Broken Journey
by dun300
Summary: Evil has ravaged this world and its greatest heroes are either gone, insane, or have never existed. Amongst this chaos, a being of unlimited power called the Overlord profits on the hopelessness of those who have no choice but to kneel before him. This is the world Maxwell Force has grown up in. And now, fate has chosen him to find these lost heroes and end it once and for all.
1. Welcome to my Life

Hi everyone! Say, are you sick of your neighborhood? Are you tired of living in fear that a pack of Chupacabras will show up and eat your children? Then why don't you move to the eighth wonder of the world, (Assuming the seven others are still around) New Norrisville!

Built from the remains of the old Norrisville, New Norrisville is made to accommodate people from all over the planet and comes with the latest in bad guy preventing technology. May I introduce to you, the Dome! Yes, here you won't have to worry about a thing! Monsters! Robots! Aliens! Super Villains! Our state-of-the-art force field will keep any malignant miscreant out of your hair! From the Ecto-Psycho formerly known as Danny Phantom to Paris' Disastrous Ladybug!

And don't you worry about EVOs! Before officially entering our beloved City, every single would-be-citizen takes a trip into our special decontamination room. There, you'll have all those pesky nanites sucked out of you and ejected out into the outside world.

And as for money, who cares?! Lodgings in New Norrisville are absolutely free. But I'm afraid it's first come first serve, so don't delay. And to sweeten the pot, the first 100,000 people gets to have a personal tour from New Norrisville's founder and ruler, me! The Overlord!

So, come on down to New Norrisville. Because really, where else are you gonna stay at? Japan? I don't think so; not unless you like being turned into a hideous monster or enslaved by an eldritch abomination made out of pure evil! Ahahahah-

I turn off the TV. It's way too early in the morning to put up with this much bullshit. For those just tuning in, my name is Max Force and no, I am not the main character of a comic book that was initially published in the 1990's. My mother, for some reason, decided that marrying a man with the last name Force was a good idea. And they, again, for some reason, decided that their child's name should be Maxwell. If anything, my name is a clear-cut sign that either God hated me or they did.

Anyway, that sack of crap talking like a used car salesman is, as you might've guessed, the Overlord of New Norrisville. That was the ad for his new sanctuary that he released nearly two years ago. The reason I know that is because he's been releasing it every hour on the hour on all the channels and every social media platform for the past four days. All leading up to his second annual celebration of the day he "rescued" us.

I'll admit, New Norrisville is definitely the lesser of two evils compared to the outside world (which should fucking tell you something). But it still doesn't change the fact that it's run by a megalomaniac dressed up like a bad Sauron cosplayer.

Crap. I have to go; the bus will be here in ten minutes. I shovel down the rest of my cereal, grab my backpack and step out of my house. Times like these make me think about how lucky that my parents got us an actual house rather than an apartment despite not being one of the first 100,000. Then again, it's probably not that hard to find a house here considering that New Norrisville is roughly ten times the size of Manhattan.

Though, I am not-so-lucky in other ways. After all, if we didn't live here, we wouldn't have lived next door to the nicest couple I knew. And I wouldn't have had to say good-bye to them.

On the way out, I stop in front of their door and, sure enough, dozens of flowers are on their doorstep, surrounding a framed picture of them holding their newborn. On the bottom it reads, "Hope for the future, Rafael and Angie Diaz."

Although the Diaz's and I technically met each other when we first moved here, I didn't really get to know them until about a few months later. I was walking back home from North New Norrisville Middle School when I heard crying from the house next door. I got concerned and knocked on their front door to check it out. About three seconds later this giant of a man with a tiny mustache and more hair on his arms than I'll ever have on my face opened the door while carrying a box of tissues with him.

"Oh, hello," he sniffed. "How may I help you?"

"Uh, I'm your neighbor?" I told him awkwardly. How do you act in this situation, when you're talking with a guy about the size of a gorilla who looks like he might break at any moment? "I heard someone crying in here and wanted to ask if everything's all—" He dropped the tissues and wrapped his arms around me. He just started sobbing so hard, I had to struggle just to keep him up or he would've crushed me to death.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said while still crying. "It's just been so hard these past few days!"

Awkwardly, I reached around and patted his back. "There there? Wh-what happened?"

He sniffled then finally got off me. He then looked around warily and motioned for me to step inside. "It's best not to discuss this out here. Please come in." I did what he asked, and he locked the door behind me. "Angie! We have a guest!"

I followed him into the living room; I sat in the middle of the sofa and he sat down on a large plush armchair with like a million tissues around it. A petite woman with auburn colored hair came in carrying a plate of meatballs. She had a smile on her face, but it was clear that she was forcing it. And the streaks down her cheeks and her puffy eyes showed that she was just crying too.

"I hope you like them." She placed the meatballs on the coffee table in front of me. "I got the recipe from a foreign exchange student we would occasionally host." I grabbed a meatball out of the pile and popped it into my mouth. "How is it?"

"Best meatball I ever had," I told her shyly. It was true by the way; as an avid fan of meat, I could definitely say it was one of the best things I've ever eaten. I would've said it with more enthusiasm but everything about this situation made me feel more and more awkward.

"That's good to hear," she said softly. She walked over to the armchair and put a gentle hand on her husband's shoulder. "I'm sorry Rafael dragged you in here. It's just that the both of us have been having a hard time since—"

"MARCOOOOOO! WAAAAAAAAAAH!" Rafael shoved his face into his tissue and cried very loudly. Angie held him closer and rubbed his head, trying to calm him down.

"We understand if you'd rather go home than stay."

There was no way I could do that. As awkward as this situation was, these people were clearly in pain and needed to talk to somebody. If that somebody had to be me, so be it.

"No, it's no problem at all." I explained. "I'd be happy to hear what's troubling you. Well, not _happy, _but if there's something I can do to help, I'd love to do so."

"We'd hate to impose."

"Not at all. My parents don't get home until super late, so I have all the time in the world. And it's clear something is eating you guys up. If you want to talk, I'm willing to listen."

Angie smiled at me, a more genuine smile this time but still tinged with sadness. She walked back to the couch and sat right next to me. "That's very sweet of you, Mr., I'm sorry, we didn't even ask you your name."

"Just call me Max." I turned to her husband who was still staring at his tissue. "So," He looked up at me as I said that, "who's Marco?"

"Marco is…is…OUR SOOOONNNN! WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"What happened to him?" If Rafael heard me, he didn't show any sign of it. He just kept crying. I turned to Angie and saw that she had some tears of her own. She noticed me looking at her and wiped her eyes with a tissue.

"Marco…disappeared three days ago." She told me.

"Disappeared?"

"I don't know how else to explain it. One night, he was up in his room, having just finished dinner and was practicing his Karate. The next morning, as I was waking him up to go to school, I saw that his bed was empty. He wasn't in his room; he wasn't anywhere in the house. I called his phone, I called his school, I called his sensei, but I couldn't find anything that could tell me where he was. It was like he just vanished."

"So, we called the policía," Rafael explained between sobs, "but instead _he _showed up."

"He? You mean the Overlord?" I asked him.

He nodded his head. "He said that our son wasn't anywhere in New Norrisville and that he disappeared using magic."

"But that's impossible. Magic is outlawed in New Norrisville."

"That's what we told him," Angie said. "But he ignored us and took everything in the house that belonged to Marco or had his face on it."

"He told us that if Marco was using magic then he needed everything that was related to him to find him. He took everything in his room, all his pictures, in a matter of seconds it was as if he never existed!" Rafael began to cry again as he explained.

"He also told us not to tell anybody about his visit or it might give other people the idea to use magic to run away too."

"MARCO! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Rafael bawled.

I was at a loss for words. I always knew that the Overlord was a bad guy but to do this to two grieving parents was unthinkable. I gripped the couch cushions beside me and gritted my teeth. Because even though I was mad at the Overlord, I was just as mad at myself.

Angie noticed this and became concerned. "Is everything alright, Max?"

I looked at her and I began to calm down a bit. "I'm sorry," I said. "I made you drudge up some painful memories because I thought maybe if I knew the situation better, I could do something to help you. But the truth is, I have no idea what to do to make you feel better. I'm really sorry." I let my head down trying to avoid their gaze, until I felt a soft hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Angie smiling at me.

"Listening to us is more than you had to do. Isn't that right, Rafael?"

Rafael sniffed then wiped his eyes one more time. "Right!" Rafael got up and sat down on the unoccupied end of the couch. He wrapped me in a giant hug probably to calm me down, though it felt like he was trying to break every bone in my body. "I still miss my son so much, but finally being able to say it is just what the doctor ordered. Thank you for listening."

I could feel my face go red, either from blushing or just because of the lack of oxygen. Rafael let go and I was able to breathe again. "Maybe I can visit more often?" I offered between breaths. "I could help around the house, mow the lawn, help you cook up more of these delicious meatballs; whatever you need, I'm happy to help."

"We'd like that," Angie said.

And every day since, I'd pay the Diaz's a visit. Sometimes I'd do chores, other times we'd just sit around and eat nachos. In almost no time at all, being with them felt like being with family.

And now, they're gone. Exiled to the outside world.

I feel guilty not being able to leave them anything. All I can do is the same thing I've done pretty much every day for the past six months. I got down on my knees and I prayed. I pray that no matter what happens to them on the outside, they will survive. I pray that one day, they will see their son again. I pray that somehow, they could come back so they could see—

"You there! State your business!"

Dammit. I turn around and see a man dressed in full on Medieval garb. He was immediately recognizable as a Forever Knight, one of several groups of mass-murdering psychopaths that our great leader employed to protect the streets. Honestly, I'm just glad it wasn't one of the Guys in White, I hear they have a nasty tendency to shoot first then check to see if you're a threat later. And that's nothing compared to what the Huntsclan or Providence will do to you.

"I will tell you just one more time! State your business with this abode."

One thing to love about these guys? They're completely deluded and are certain they're the good guys. As such, they're not gonna do jack-shit to a teenager giving them lip.

"Don't you have a Rens Faire to go to? Unlike you, people who were worth a shit used to live in this house. I'm taking a minute to pay them my respect."

He started marching towards me. Looks like I found a particularly grumpy one today. I got up and stood at eye level with him.

"You will hold thy tongue, knave. I am a proud member of the Forever Knights, sworn to protect the Earth against all manner of atrocities from beyond the stars!"

"And yet you're here walking the streets like a beat cop and hassling some kid. You must be _very _proud."

He didn't say anything. Instead he pulled out a small rectangular device and used it to bathe me in a harsh blue light. When the light turned green, confirming that I am 100% normal, the Forever Knight let out a barely concealed "Damn!"

"I'd say our business is concluded. So, if you don't mind, I have a bus to catch." I walk past the Forever Knight and he had no choice but to let me go. I walk until I reach the corner, just in time for the bus to arrive.

I get on board and look for where to sit. I didn't have to look for long as I see the waving arm of my best (and only) friend, Ron Stoppable.

"Max! Max, over here! I saved you a seat!"

Ron and I are both outcasts in high school; me because I don't talk or emote all that much, him because he's a wannabe chick magnet who keeps a naked mole rat in his pocket. In Freshman year, I thought the key to being cool was to never speak or show any kind of facial expression whatsoever. Ron saw this as a challenge and so he sat with me during lunch period trying to get me to laugh. That and nobody else wanted to have lunch with him.

After thirty minutes of one bad joke after another, I finally cracked when he ended up tripping over his own pants. And while he insists that he means to do that every time it happens, I'd take his words with a grain of salt. Still, it ended up being for the best. Turns out when he's not trying to be funny, the guy's such a dork it's really hard for me to hate him. And his pet Rufus is cute, in a "inside out sausage with teeth" kind of way. So yeah, now we're sophomores and it's been me and Ron against the world for the past year now.

I'm still pretty quiet, but that's because I don't know what to say to people most of the time. But when it comes to guys like Ron, it doesn't matter what you say to them. So being around him is pretty much the only time I have where I don't need to keep my guard up.

I start to make my way to our seats, but I got tripped up and fell face-first on the dirty, used gum covered floor. I lift my face and turn to see the ones responsible laughing and giving each other high fives.

Remember when I said that it was me and Ron against the world? More like it was me and Ron against these guys. May I present to you, the Three Ash-holes.

"Haha! You stuck your foot out and he fell! Now that's funny!"

Bash Johnson. With his grades, the only reason he's even in high school is because his stepdad bribed the school board. He's the dumb one.

"What's the matter, Maximum Fail? Can't wait to run to you loser boyfriend?"

Cash Murray. Hasn't grown up since the fourth grade and hasn't gotten any smarter either. He's the pathetic one.

"You two geeks were made for each other."

Dash Baxter. Stereotypical big man on campus. Quarterback. Letterman jacket. Inexplicably popular despite having all the charisma of a bad fart. He's the one who's going to ask me twenty years from now, "would you like to make that a large for just a dollar more?"

Note to self: If I ever father a child, avoid names with the letters A, S, and H like the goddamn plague.

I was going to get up, but a girl stepped out of her seat and stood in between me and the Ash-holes. I immediately recognized her by her red ponytail and black stockings as Gwen Tennyson, one of the smartest kids in school. "Seriously, don't you guys have anything better to do than act like creeps?"

"Hey, Gwen Tasty!" Cash said. "How about this Friday, you and me watch a romantic movie at my place?"

Guess that answers that question.

"Cash, I wouldn't touch you if the planet were being ravaged by a flesh-eating virus and screwing you was the only way to save mankind."

I couldn't stop myself from snickering, at least not until Cash looked at me like he was ready to kill me. I try to make it a rule not to talk smack to these guys. I talk smack to the Forever Knights and the other guys who "preserve the peace" but those guys aren't allowed to hit back. These guys don't just hit back; they hit face, they hit gut, they hit crotch, they hit every part of you while laughing about it.

Lucky for me, they have just enough decency so that they won't fight a girl. The fact that this girl in particular is a black belt in Taekwondo certainly helps.

"Whatever," said Dash. "We don't need some nerd hanging around us, right guys?"

"Right!" The other two Ash-holes agree and they all turn back to the front of the bus.

Gwen turns around and offers me a hand. I take it and she pulls me back up. "Th-thanks," I stutter.

"Don't mention it," she tells me then sits back down, picking up a book with some weird art on the cover. I'm never quite sure what to say to Gwen. She's not a bad person, obviously, but she's one of the few people in this school that comes off as more standoffish than I do. She doesn't really talk or look up from her book unless it's to answer a teacher or tell some jerk to back off. I'm not really sure she even has any friends. I was going to try and say something else to her but then I remembered the Three Ash-holes and my survival instincts kicked in.

I walked over towards the back, looking down to avoid eye contact and slumped right next to Ron. "Hey, not bad! You were face to face with those guys and all you got were some gum on your jeans."

I looked down to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, a big sticky green wad was stuck to the leg of my pants. "Gross." I groaned. "You got a napkin?"

"Way ahead of you." He reached into his backpack and pulled out a greasy paper bag with the logo for Bueno Nacho, a Mexican place that Ron eats at every day. If I didn't know he was Jewish, I would've sworn it was some kind of cult thing. He opened the bag up and Rufus popped out holding a bunch of napkins.

"Ta-daa!" The little mole rat squeaked.

"Thanks guys." I grab a napkin and get to work pulling the gum off my pants when the bus stopped again.

"Oh, quick, switch seats with me!" Ron begged.

"You're still going for her?"

"Just do it!"

"Fine."

This is pretty standard for us at this point. Every day Ron would save me a seat. And every day he'd ask me to switch so he can flirt with his dream girl. I've actually had said dream girl talk to me once and it did not take long for the idea of dating her to become my nightmare.

Still, I know better than anyone how stubborn Ron could be, so I relent. I got up and made my way to the window while Ron scooched over to the aisle. I watch him stick his head out to catch a glimpse of the two most popular (and most annoying) girls in school; Bonnie Rockwaller and Kimberly Ann Possible.

From what I heard, those two have been joined at the hip since kindergarten and it shows. They're so alike it's actually scary. They also make it no secret that they look down on everyone. Even the way they walk is somehow condescending. Yet despite all this, the school loves them anyway, especially Ron. He told me about how he's been drooling over Kim since Grade School.

"Hey KP," he said flirtatiously. The two of them don't even slow down, they just scoff while they make their way to the back of the bus. "Alright, talk to you later!"

"Smooth," I snarked much to Ron's bemusement. "No seriously, you had her eating out of the palm of your hand. Truly, I was a fool to ever doubt the raw sex appeal of Ronald Stoppable."

"Alright, have your fun. But just you wait, one day the Ron-Man will be walking with Kim Possible wrapped around my arm."

"I'd love to see that. Ya know, I don't get why you're so obsessed with her. She's a total cunt!"

Suddenly, Ron grabbed my shirt and started getting really in my face. "Don't you call her that!" he told me through gritted teeth.

"Alright! Alright! I'm sorry!" Ron let go of me and crossed his arms. I straightened out my shirt and let him cool off for a few seconds before trying to talk to him again. "Look, you're my best friend and I just don't want you getting hurt. And I know everyone in school gives us crap for being the losers, but you have to realize that even you can do better than Kim Possible." Rufus pops back out of the Bueno Nacho bag and blew a raspberry at Kim's direction. "See, even Rufus is with me on this."

"Look, I know she's not the…friendliest girl in school, but there's just this feeling, ya know? Like, I don't know how to explain it. It just feels like this is supposed to be what happens next."

"Well, I hate to break it to ya pal, but that feeling seems pretty one-sided."

I pointed over to Kim so Ron would see her blowing kisses at the front of the bus. He looked over to see Dash flexing and giving off his cockiest grin. Ron slumped back in his seat with the absolute look of defeat on his face. Rufus jumped out and climbed up to his shoulder so he could hug his cheek while giving a sad "Awww."

"Thanks, little buddy," Ron said. "But I'm afraid it'll take a lot more than that to mend this broken heart."

I tell him, "I'll buy you thirty bucks worth of Bueno Nacho when we get out of class."

Ron immediately sat up with the look of a man who had just been reborn and pumped his fist into the air. "The Ron-Man never stays down for long! Booyah!"

Rufus started licking his lips and gave a booyah of his own.

I roll my eyes and look out the window. The first and only thing that catches my eye is the giant grotesque McFist Industries building. The structure towered over every building around it. It looks just like a pyramid except jet-black all over. It's basically where the Illuminati would live if they decided "Fuck Subtlety!" Seeing this place always pisses me off, which really sucks because you can see it just about everywhere in this town. McFist Industries owns and sells pretty much everything in New Norrisville. There isn't a single store here that doesn't have a product with "Mc" in it. They even provide funding for the Overlord's squads of jack-booted thugs. Though maybe I'm just salty at them because the guy who runs the place is Bash's stepdad. Yep, Hannibal McFist is the reason I have to deal with three Ash-holes instead of just two. Still, whatever the reason, every time I look at that place, I think to myself "What I wouldn't give to watch you disappear."

The bus eventually stops at the North New Norrisville High School Building. Everyone rushes out of the bus and makes their way inside. I think I might actually hate this place more than I hate McFist Industries. Maybe it's because the Overlord's face is everywhere you look here, or maybe it's just because its high school, but I have a personal ritual where I have to motivate myself every morning just to step inside.

_You can do this, it's just one more day. You can do this, it's just one more day. You can do this, it's just-_

My mantra is interrupted by three successive slaps to the back of the head. I look up as I rub my sore spot to see that it was the most obvious suspects. The three of them laugh and celebrate like they just pulled off the ultimate heist. Dash turns to me and shouts, "Nice pants, Maximum Freak!" The three of them head off into the school building while high-fiving each other. And I just realize that there is still someone's gross chewed up gum stuck to my pants. As I try to rip out the revolting substance with my bare fingers, I thought to myself, _Can I _really_ survive one more day of this!?_

I suck it up and make my way inside. I walk down the hall, looking at the floor so that I don't see the Overlord. The guy has posters of himself all over the walls. All with truly inspiring lines like "It doesn't matter how long it takes for you to reach the top, because I'm already there" or "People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, stop it. I'm literally the only one who can change the world." Admittedly, some of these are actually pretty funny, but why does this guy insist that everything must have his face on it? Well, I think he would if he ever showed his face.

I step in front of my locker and open it to grab my things, only to have a dead girl covered in blood fall out on top of me.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" As I laid there, I just kept screaming. I didn't stop until I looked down and saw exactly who it was. "Janna!?"

She lifted her head off my chest and looked at me with a sly grin. "Hey, Maxwell."

"Seriously? What the hell's with you? That's like the fifth time this year!"

Janna got off of me and helped me up. "And it's still funny every time."

"That wasn't funny! I nearly had a heart attack!"

This is Janna Ordonia. She's a freak. And for whatever reason she's taken a vested interest in me. If she's not pulling dumb jokes like this, she's either teasing me or stealing something from me. One time, she took my house keys. I had to break into my own home only to discover that the front door was unlocked, and my keys were on the coffee table. Technically, she's harmless but this chick has made it her life's mission to constantly freak me out.

"Don't call me harmless."

"What?"

"And besides, it's not the exact same this time. You gotta admit, the blood's a nice touch." I stare at the dark red liquid splattered all over her. I feel my breakfast start to make its way up. "Calm down. It's just ketchup mixed with corn syrup. Wanna lick?"

"No thanks." I reach into my locker and pull out my binder. "I don't understand why you always want to cause a scene."

"I don't understand why you _don't_ always wanna cause a scene. Everyone else seems to enjoy it."

I look around and finally notice everyone in the hall looking at us. My face starts to heat up from the embarrassment, as this means that they saw me scream my head off. I cover my face with my binder and quickly walk to my homeroom, with Janna following right behind me.

"Do you wanna know what your problem is, Maxwell?"

"You?"

"You're the most insecure guy on the planet. You're obsessed with how people think of you and are so scared of saying something stupid you end up saying something stupid anyway."

"That's not true." I turn a corner and nearly bump into Kim and Bonnie. I feel my heart drop. These two could destroy whatever reputation I have left with the blink of an eye. They both look down at my shirt and grimace. I check myself and see that my previously white clean sweatshirt is covered in Janna's fake blood. "Oh no, this isn't blood!" I explain myself. "This is just ketchup. There was an accident earlier and-"

"Wow, Force," Bonnie interrupted. "I always knew that you were gross but wearing a ketchup smothered shirt to school is probably beneath even Stoppable's standards."

"I-I didn't come here like this. It's just that-"

"C'mon Bonnie," Kim said. "Let's get out of here before he drags us down the muck with him. Later, Force. Freak."

Janna flipped them off behind their backs as they walked away. "Fuck you too, ladies. See? If you've just stayed calm, it wouldn't have ended so badly."

"Just go away," I said glumly.

"Hey, cheer up." She steps in front of me. "It's like the man says." She reaches into her backpack and pulls out one of the Overlord's posters. One that read, "It doesn't matter what other people think of you because you'll never be as awesome as I am."

I grab the poster from Janna's hands, rip it in half in my frustration and threw it in the nearby trashcan. "Can't you just be normal for five minutes!?"

I turn away from Janna in a huff and stomp my way to homeroom.

"Everyone probably wouldn't hate you so much if you actually talked to them!" Janna yelled.

I ignore her and just keep going until I reach my class. Once there, everyone looks at me and my ketchup covered shirt. I just keep my head down and take my seat next to Ron.

"Don't ask." I tell him bluntly.

When the bell rings our teacher, Miss Skullnick, walks to the front and starts writing on the chalkboard. "All right class, because the guy who runs this place insists on wasting my and everyone else's time, we're going to learn about the history of New Norrisville. Again." Everyone in class groaned. Last year, the Overlord decided that the week leading up to the big anniversary should remind people every day about how awesome the Overlord is for building New Norrisville. One of the other students raised his hand. "Yes, Mr. Weston?"

"Do we seriously have to learn about this again? The Overlord won't shut up about it!" He complained.

"Trust me, I'd love to skip this lesson, but I hear that everywhere else is awful this time of year. Now just shut up and open your textbooks." The girl sitting next to me raise her hand. "Yes, Ms. Tennyson?"

"Norrisville was founded by the Norisu Nine in the year 1209. 15 years prior, Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI began his rule of Sicily. Rather than stay and follow a tyrant, hundreds of Sicilians left the country by boat hoping to get as far away from King Henry's conquest as possible. After months of sailing they stumbled across Japan during the Kamakura period. By then, Japan had enacted Sakoku, meaning 'closed country'. They were incredibly isolationist and wouldn't allow the Sicilian refugees to immigrate. Thus, they were forced to sneak in illegally and hide in the mountains. Around 1208, the Sorcerer came into being and wreaked havoc across Japan. It wasn't until a band of ninjas called the Norisu Nine appeared and driven the Sorcerer out of Japan and into what would be known as the United States. Around then, there had been rumors of evil spirits killing off anyone who set foot into the mountains. The Norisu went to investigate only to discover the Sicilian refugees, who have been driving away anyone who came there so that they wouldn't be discovered. The Norisu Nine promised to keep their secret in exchange for taking their strongest troops on a mission to defeat the Sorceror. They agreed, and several people who weren't soldiers volunteered to find a better life in a new land, including women and children. Eventually, they left Japan and landed in America and continued going after him until they settled in what would be known as Oklahoma. The refugees built a village there and named it in honor of the Norisu Nine. There, the Sorcerer would attack repeatedly, before being defeated by the last surviving Norisu ninja and sealed in a hole for all eternity. The ninja served as the protector of Norisu Village for centuries and continued to do so after it was taken over by European settlers and renamed Norrisville."

Ron leaned over and whispered, "I heard they came up with their own weird slang, like 'What the juice?' or 'That's the cheese!' or 'Wonk!'"

"What the juice does any of _that_ mean?" I ask him.

"Ahem!" Miss Skullnick said loudly while glaring at us. She then turned back to Gwen. "Thank you, Ms. Tennyson, for giving the class a history lesson so that I don't have to. But our goal today is to teach about the history of _New_ Norrisville."

"I'm getting to that." Gwen said. "Even though he was trapped, the Sorcerer still menaced the innocent, sowing chaos by turning people into monsters during a moment of weakness with the goal to gain enough power to break free and conquer the world. The ninja protected Norrisville until one day, he just didn't. About three years ago, the Ninja failed to show up while a monster was rampaging across the city and it spread enough chaos that the Sorcerer was able to escape. He conquered Norrisville in a matter of hours, with only a handful of people getting out safely. The Sorcerer took his new army and headed back to Japan, leaving behind a trail of destruction in his wake. By the time he arrived, Japan had already been taken over by Aku, and the two of them had been at war over it ever since, leaving the rest of the world alone.

Which brings us to New Norrisville. Nearly two years ago (as he loves to remind us), the Overlord appeared out of nowhere and just built a new city on top of the ashes of the old one. Why he chose Norrisville specifically, one can imagine."

Because he's an egomaniac that likes to brag about owning the oldest city in America. At least that's my theory. At this point, Miss Skullnick was passed out on her desk along with almost the entire class, including Ron. I turn to see Gwen back to reading her weird book. With our newfound privacy, I thought that I could break the ice.

"You're…really smart." Smooth one, dumbass. Gwen didn't even seem to hear me. I really want to know just what she's reading that's so interesting. "Th-then again, the Overlord has made us learn this stuff over and over again, so it's not that impressive." And I just called her stupid. Fan-fucking-tastic! Why can't I just talk to a girl like a normal person?

Mercifully, the bell rang for first period and Gwen got up from her desk. Everyone else woke up and followed suit.

"See ya, Ron."

"Looking forward to lunchtime, Max!"

Aside from homeroom, lunchtime is the only class we have together. Meaning I am essentially in No Man's Land until noon.

Lunchtime arrives and the day so far has been tolerable. I had to deal with Cash pouring a smoothie on my seat and listening to Kim telling everyone how gross I am but it's nothing worse than what I've already been through. Whenever I step inside the cafeteria, I always make it a rule to hug the wall as I make my way to the table. Because smack in the middle of the room is where the "cool" people sit. On the one side, you got the jocks which of course include the Three Ash-holes. On the other are the cheerleaders, meaning Bonnie, Kim, and every drone in their hive are there too. What's worse, the jocks are facing the counter to buy lunch, so if they ever see me there, I know there'll be hell to pay.

I follow my typical route, ducking low and moving quickly to make sure the cheerleaders couldn't see me. They don't normally see me anyway but with Kim and Bonnie spreading rumors that I bathed in ketchup before coming here this morning, I can't take my chances.

I successfully make it to the table at the far corner where Ron and I usually sit. I wave hi as I see his face, so thankful to see somebody that's on my side. This time, however, there's another occupant.

"Hey, Max! I believe you are familiar with this lovely young lady from homeroom?"

As usual, Gwen didn't react. She just stared into her book while occasionally eating some potato chips.

"H-hi, Gwen," I say nervously as I sit down next to Ron. This isn't an uncommon occurrence. Gwen normally sits all by herself, but whenever someone else occupies her usual table she comes over to us. I look over her shoulder and see that the table on the other corner she sits at was being occupied by Cooper Daniels, a geeky kid that has a crush on her. Right now, he's in the middle of a growth spurt but that hasn't made him any less nerdy or any more desirable to Gwen, so she's sitting with us.

Ron bumps me on the shoulder and makes a series of weird hand gestures pointing to me, him, Gwen, and everywhere else. I look at him totally confused and he facepalms before getting close to me.

"Go talk to her," he whispers.

"What?" I whisper back.

"Look, I can tell you got a thing for her so just go talk to her; you might never have a chance like this again."

"I don't have a _thing_ for Gwen Tennyson."

"Whatever you say," he said insincerely. "Just go break the ice."

I feel something tugging on my sleeve. I look down to see Rufus trying to literally pull me closer towards Gwen.

"Alright. But first, you need to talk to Kim."

"Way ahead of you."

"Right now. During lunch. Surrounded by all those jocks. You do that and I'll talk to her, no questions asked."

Ron looked over at Kim's table and gulped at the sight of the Three Ash-Holes and the entire football team surrounding her. But when Dash started flirting with Kim, Ron's apprehension made way for anger. "Deal." Ron got up and strutted towards the popular table.

Rufus covered his eyes; he couldn't bear to watch Ron get humiliated. I did the same thing. I tried to tune out the noise around me so that I could listen to the sound of Ron changing his mind and coming back. Instead what came next was this.

"What's up ladies? Mind if I si—Hey what are you doing? No stop tha—Ow! OW!"

Followed by the telltale laughter of the conceited after witnessing someone else's humiliation. I hear the squeaking of Ron's sneakers get louder until he starts poking at my shoulder. I look up to see that the Three Ash-holes have tied Ron's pants to his head with a belt. As bad as I felt for the guy, it wasn't enough to stop the snickering.

"Are you laughing at me?" he asked.

"No. No, of course not," I struggle to say. "I was just thinking about some dumb cat video I saw yesterday. I'd never laugh at you with your pants on your he-haha. Ahahahahaaa!" I'm an awful friend, aren't I?

"Yeah, yeah. Well, now it's your turn. Go talk to her."

"Fine."

"But first, sit next to her."

"What? That wasn't part of the deal."

"I got head-pantsed because of you. You owe me, big."

"Fine. Just, put your pants back on the right way, please?"

He flashed me the OK sign and I get up from my seat. I look at Gwen and my legs freeze. I can't even make conversation with her. How am I going to just casually walk up to her?

I feel tiny hands shoving the back of my ankles. I turn to see Rufus pushing himself against me in order to move. I lift my feet up and let him force me into walking up to Gwen. Once I was next to her, I carefully took the seat in front of me, so I wouldn't disturb her. I looked up to see Ron struggling to untie the belt holding the pants to his head. Since he was occupied, I thought that maybe I could just scooch a little further away. Only to hear a tiny, annoyed growl and look down to see Rufus giving me the stink eye.

"Oh, all right." Finally caving in, I turn to Gwen and try to think of a conversation about something she's clearly shown interest in. Mainly, her book. "So, whatcha reading?" Nothing. I turn to Rufus and shrugged my shoulders but when I look down, he was gone. I hear screaming right behind me and see Gwen shutting her book and Rufus' tiny legs wiggling between its pages.

"Rufus!" Without thinking, I grab Gwen's book out of her hands and pull Rufus free. "You alright, little buddy?" Rufus was dazed but otherwise unharmed. He gave me a thumbs-up and gestured over to Gwen. I look at her and am just now realizing that I took her book without permission. "S-sorry about that. Here you go." But before I could lend it back to her, Rufus bit my hand!

"YOWW!" I drop the book and it fell between me and her. "Crap, I'm sorry, again! Let me just—" as I bent over to pick it up, Gwen had the same idea and our hands touched. I instinctively jump back and grab my wrist, like I was caught taking a cookie out of the cookie jar. Rufus face palmed and I flicked him over to Ron as payback. "Sorry about him," I tell Gwen as she picks up her book. "He can be a handful."

"You don't have to apologize so much," Gwen tells me.

"Sorry about tha- Crap! I did it again, didn't I?"

"Ehehehe! Yeah, you kinda did."

She laughed. She actually laughed! I never heard her laugh before. This is a good thing, right? If I made her laugh then that means she likes me, right? Unless she's laughing at me, in which case I'm screwed!

"So, is he yours?" Gwen asked.

"Huh?"

She points to the other side of the table at Rufus helping Ron get the pants off his head by biting at the belt. "You mean Rufus? Naw, he belongs to the doofus sitting across from us. You never noticed before?"

"Afraid not. I usually keep my focus on other things."

"Like that book you're always reading?"

"Pretty much."

"What's it about, anyway? It must really be interesting if you can't look away from it."

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just studying." She was oddly uneasy about it, but I decided not to push it.

"Okay, so what do you do when you're not studying?

"Nothing much. My grades are good enough that I can pretty much ignore class for the most part and still pass with flying colors."

"That's amazing."

"Not really. Anyone can do it if they just do the work."

"I don't know about that. I don't think I could ever be as smart as you. I'm pretty average. Some would go as far to say I'm below."

"Don't say that. Everyone has something special they could do."

"Yeah well, I'd sure like to know what mine is."

"I'm sure you will."

"Thanks."

This was turning out be not so terrible. Here I am actually having a conversation with a girl! Not just any girl, it's Gwen freakin' Tennyson! She hardly ever talks to anybody! And here she is, in front of me and not being miserable about it! I need to keep this going. What else can I talk about? What else is she interested in?

I got nothing. I know absolutely nothing about this girl that I can use to engage in conversation.

After I tell her thanks, I just sat there; staring at her like a complete creep.

"Well," Gwen said. "I should probably get back to studying."

Shit! I'm going to lose my chance! Say something! Anything! Literally anything!

"Did they find out what happened to your cousin?"

Gwen looks at me shocked.

_Anything but that!_

Gwen's shocked expression turns into an annoyed one. She puts her book and the chips in her backpack and gets up.

"W-wait, Gwen!" I beg. "I didn't—"

"It's fine," she tells me. "Cooper left my table, so I don't have to bother you guys anymore."

"I-it's not a bother! Really! Let me just explain myself!"

"Nothing to explain." She puts on her backpack and walks away. As she does, she looks at me and says, "I'll see you guys at class."

Knowing that there was no point in trying anymore, I turn back to the table and slump over it.

Ron finally manages to pull the pants off his head.

"Whoo! Sweet freedom!" He starts to put his pants back on the right way before he sees me utterly defeated. "Hey, what happened to you?"

"I said the C-word," I explained glumly.

"Like you used this morning?" Ron questioned as he put his pants on.

"No. I…I brought up her cousin."

"Oof. Bad call."

"Let's just forget that this ever happened and eat our lunch already."

Ron's stomach growled. "Aw man, I almost forgot the whole point of lunchtime! Here." Ron picks up my backpack and slides it over to me from across the table.

"Thanks." We unzip our backpacks and reach for our lunches. Ron pulls out his first, the greasy paper bag from earlier. He opens it and takes a big whiff of his contents with a large smile on his face.

"Ah, Bueno Nacho. May your queso covered and tortilla wrapped glory never fade from this world. What did you get, Max?"

"I'll show you as soon as I can find it. Why is this—Huh?"

I pull out a sticky note that I don't remember putting in my backpack. On it, it reads:

_Forgot my lunch._

_Knew you were good for it._

_ XOXO_

_-J_

"Janna!" I crumble up the note and throw it towards a trash can. It fell on the floor pathetically halfway there.

"Weird girl stole your lunch?" Ron asks me.

"Yep."

"I could share some of mine with you." Ron dumps out a bunch of wrapped-up food onto the table and unwraps them one by one. "Let's see here, we got the chimirito, the quesachanga, the spare huevo quesadilla from breakfast, and of course, the all-time classic, the naco!" Rufus started squeaking up amongst all the food. "Oh yeah, I'm gonna have to scratch the huevadilla off the menu, Rufus already called dibs."

Bueno Nacho is famous, or rather infamous, for coming up with a bunch of new menu items by smashing normal Mexican food together. Mostly by Ron's urging. And none of the options so far looked remotely appetizing.

"No thanks. Those things are cholesterol catastrophe. I'm just gonna have to get lunch from the cafeteria."

"You mean go up there?" Ron pointed to the serving station. "In full view of those guys?' Ron pointed at the Ash-holes and the others.

I let out a deep sigh. "I have no choice. And who knows? They already went after you. Maybe they got it out of their systems this period."

"I hope so, man. For your sake." Ron takes a big bite of his nacho chip stuffed taco while I got up and headed for the lunch line. I still kept to the walls, hoping to maintain invisibility at all costs. I manage to reach the station, no problem. There was no line, so I didn't have to wait and risk standing out too long. I look back to see the Three Ash-holes and the other popular kids laughing amongst each other.

I turn back and jumped at the sight of the lunch lady's mole-covered face.

"What do you want?" she growls in a husky voice. I look down at the options before and make my choice without thinking.

"Frenchbread pizza." I turn to see if those guys noticed me yet. Still in the clear. The lunch lady hands me my pizza.

"We are also required to inform you that for health reasons you must also choose a vegeta-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll take some baby carrots. Now can we move on please?"

"Certainly sir. Just slide your meal down, grab a drink, and pay at the register."

I swiftly move down and grab a chocolate milk out of the ice box. I open it up and chug. Chocolate is one of the few things in this world that keeps my nerves straight. After finishing half the carton, I put it back on my tray and grab a second one. "I'll pay for both," I tell the lunch lady.

"Whatever." I stand right next to the register. "That'll be $3.75."

I pull out my wallet and her a five-dollar bill. "Keep the change." $1.25 was a very small price to pay to get out as soon as I could. I grab the tray and turn around to head back to my table, but as soon as I did, something slammed into my lunch tray and pushed its contents onto my shirt. I drop the tray and was mortified to find that my shirt now had some new red stains, a couple of brown ones, and some cheese stuck to it. I look down to discover that what hit me was a football. I look up to see Dash Baxter standing up over everyone.

"Hey everybody, look!" he said loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear. "Maximum Fart here had an accident." Everyone at the popular table started laughing, and the laughter spread to the entire cafeteria.

I look around and see kids from all over the school clutching their sides with laughter. From the rich kids to the wannabe gangsters. From the choir to the band geeks. From the debate team to the dance team. Every single one of them found the biggest loser of the day and his name was Max Force. I turn to face Ron and Rufus, hoping they might offer something to show me that it wasn't as bad as it seems. Instead, all I got from them was a look of sheer pity.

I want to die. I just want to curl up and disappear. Why does this always happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? Why do they _have _to pick on me? What did I ever do to them?

Nothing. I've never done _anything_ to them. The only reason they do this is because they're rotten people whose crap nobody should have to put up with. I look back down at the football. I pick it up and get the Ash-holes attention.

"Hey!" I yell. They stop laughing and look at me with smug expressions still on their face. Those expressions went away when I bit down on the football with everything I had.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Cash yelled.

"Stop that! You're gonna get your nerd germs all over it!" Dash demanded.

I didn't listen to any of them, I just kept biting harder and harder. Until…

POP!

The ball exploded in my teeth. I spat out the chunk the came off in my mouth and smirked at them in, relishing the baffled look they all had.

"Hey!" Bash shouted. "You broke our ball, you jerk!"

"Oh, wow! I guess I did." I say sarcastically. "Well, now the three of you can use this to jack each other off!" I throw the football at the ground while maintaining eye contact with those Ash-holes. The three of them walk around the table, glaring angrily at me the whole time.

"Do you have _any_ idea what you're saying?" Dash asked me.

"I'm saying what I should've said a long time ago. I am _sick _of your bullshit and I'm finally going to do something about it!"

Dash cracked his knuckles while the other two stood beside him with their arms crossed. "Oh yeah? How?"

I bent over to pick up the tray and wield it over my head like a club. "By knocking this thing upside your stupid, puerile, self-aggrandizing _**heads!**_"

I charge at them, the plastic lunch tray wielded over my head, screaming at them like a banshee.

_I don't care what happens next. I don't care if they kill me. So long as I get one hit in on them, IT'LL BE THE BEST DAY OF MY GODDAMN LIFE!_

…

"Wow, you got exactly zero hits in."

Gwen brought me to the nurse's office and is placing cooling pads onto my many bruises. "It's kinda hard to believe. I mean, they're all bigger than you _and _there were three of them. Surely with the way you swung your mighty lunch tray you could've hit at least one of them."

"Alright," I told her, "They kicked the shit out of every other part of me, I don't need you going after my ego."

"No, I'm pretty sure they kicked the shit out of that too."

"Heh. When you're right, you're right."

"Shirt, please."

I move to lift my shirt up so she can keep applying the pads. I feel a sharp pain from my ribs when I lift my arm too high. Gwen puts a calming hand on my shoulder and chest and helps me relax back into my seat.

"Take it easy," she instructs. "The nurse said that nothing's broken, but you still shouldn't push yourself too hard."

"Thanks." Gwen lifted my shirt up for me and started applying the pads with one hand. "Why are you helping me anyway? I thought you were mad at me."

"Well that doesn't mean I was just going to leave you there on the cafeteria floor. Besides, the one you should really be thanking is your friend. He's a surprisingly fast runner."

"Yeah, Ron has a lot of experience running from bullies. I definitely owe him more than $30 of greasy Mexican food for getting those guys away from me. I just hope he's alright."

"I'm sure he's fine. Y'know, you're a lot less awkward here then you were in the lunchroom."

"That's probably because I just don't care anymore."

"About what?"

"Everything! I made a complete ass of myself back there and I have nothing to show for it."

Suddenly, the medical closet in the side of the room slams wide open. Gwen lets go of my shirt and we both turn to see Janna's head popping into the room.

"Au contraire mon frère," she said before walking towards us with a bunch of belts in her hand.

"What were you doing in there?" I ask her incredulously.

"I was just hanging out with Curly." Janna motions back to the medical skeleton hanging from the closet door. "Anyway, I wouldn't worry about Ron." She pulled out her phone and showed us a paused video. "Check it."

Janna plays the video and it shows Ron running down the halls screaming, running right past Janna before going downstairs. The Three Ash-holes were chasing after him, but just as they pass Janna, all their pants drop to their ankles and they all fall down the stairs, crying out in pain on the way down. Janna moves the camera to show all three of them lying on top of each other with their pants down and groaning. (Get your mind out of the gutter, dammit!) She then moves to show three belts in her hand. The same three belts she is currently holding. The video ends and the two of us look at her grinning face with eyes wide in shock.

"Okay," I begin. "One, I don't want to know how you're so good at that."

"Your loss," she interrupted.

"Two, I'm pretty sure that's a felony. And three…Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Here." She tosses the belts on my lap. As they land, my thighs sting. "Think of it as an early birthday present."

"It's your birthday?" Gwen asks me.

"Not for another week. Usually, I take the day off to spend time with my parents."

"You don't think you're a bit old for that?"

"Not really. My parents pretty much do whatever I want on my birthday to make up for their busy schedules."

"It's true." Janna said. "Last year, they took him to the New Norrisville Theatre to watch Hamilton. And that was just the beginning. Then there was the Downtown Cake Buffet followed by—"

"How do you know all this?" I ask. "Have you been stalking me?"

"Whelp," Janna clapped her hands, "I should get back to Curly. You two go back to what you were doing." Janna headed back to the medical closet.

"You still didn't answer my ques—" She slammed the door shut before I could finish.

"Is she always like that?" Gwen asked me.

"Yes."

"Okay then." Gwen said awkwardly. She finished putting one more cooling pad on my shirt before pulling my shirt back down. "There, that's the last one."

"Thanks again for the help. I can feel the aches starting to go away already."

"Good to know. Now, if you don't mind me asking, I have a question for you."

"Of course, it's the least I can do."

"All right, your friend seems to think you have a crush on me." My eyes open wide at her words. "You guys suck at whispering. So, is it true?"

I let out a deep sigh. "No, it's not. The reason I've been trying to talk to you all day is, well—"

"My aunt and uncle asked you to?"

I look to her, not surprised at this point by how sharp she is. "Yeah." I first met Carl and Sandra Tennyson back when I was still visiting the Diazes. They all met on what was basically an AA meeting for parents with missing kids.

Turns out their son, Ben, mysteriously went missing six years ago and they've been grieving ever since. I didn't pay much attention to the news when I was a kid but apparently, it was a huge story. Everyone was talking about how a kid who was just supposed to go on a boring summer road trip with his grandpa and cousin just disappeared without a trace. Angie and Rafael, obviously, knew what they were going through and couldn't imagine putting up with that kind of pain for five whole years. So, they'd regularly invite them over for games and drinks. They're actually pretty cool, though I hesitate to touch Sandra's cooking.

"They heard from your parents that you don't really socialize, so they asked me to talk to you. The fact that I hang out with people three times older than me probably should've clued them in that I don't really socialize much either. Still, I just felt so bad for them and I wanted to do something to make them feel better."

"Ugh." Gwen massaged her head like she was nursing a migraine.

"Sorry for not telling you."

"It's fine, I'm not angry at you. It's just that…" Gwen seemed to struggle to find the right words before taking a seat next to me. "Look, I'm the kind of person that appreciates being alone. It gives me the peace and quiet I need to think, to learn, to do… other stuff. I just find it nice to be alone sometimes. And if Ben were still here, I seriously doubt that would change; we've never been that close. Honestly, I wish they'd care more about Grandpa Max rather than my social life."

"Who?"

"They never mentioned him?" I shake my head no. "Of course not." Gwen sighed. "Grandpa Max was in charge of watching us during that summer six years ago. When Ben disappeared, Dad and Uncle Carl cut off all ties with him."

"They just removed their dad from their lives like that?"

"It wasn't entirely out of nowhere. The two of them resented Grandpa for seemingly focusing on his career more than them. Still, it doesn't make it right. Grandpa was just as devastated to lose Ben as either of them. They had no right to blame him for his going missing."

"I agree with you. Hell, my parents work all the damn time and I wouldn't do that to them."

"How long do they work?"

"Days. Weeks. Sometimes it's been so long that I forget what they look like." Gwen's baffled expression shows that she didn't care for that last remark. "I'm kidding," I assure her. She let out a sigh of relief and didn't notice I muttered, "Kind of," under my breath.

"You're not upset about that?"

"A little bit, sure, but I know that they care about me. The reason they work so hard is because both of them grew up with very rough lives. They just want to make sure I don't have to go through the same things they did. They even give me a $50 a week allowance!"

"Wow. Where do they work at exactly?"

"Their factory workers, but right now they're both taking night classes so that they can get better jobs. I don't really know all the details; I just know they're working hard for my sake. Maybe that's what it was like with Grandpa Max. Maybe he was working hard for their sakes too."

"Exactly!" Gwen said excitedly. "You have no idea how much trouble they'd be in if he didn't do what he does!"

"What does he do exactly?"

"He's…" Gwen started to look more deflated. "…a plumber."

I couldn't stop myself from laughing. Even as Gwen's face grew beet red, it wasn't enough to make me forget how serious she got over her grandpa draining toilets. "HAHAHAHAHA—KUHKUHKUHKUH!" I laughed so hard I started coughing. Gwen checked to see if I was fine, but I assured her I'm okay. "Haaa…I'm sorry. I've just never seen someone so excited about knowing a plumber unless they happen to be a princess."

"Yeah, well, his job's more important than people realize."

"I'm sure you're right. So, where does this leave us?"

Gwen didn't say anything. She got up and walked in front of me. "Here's a proposition. I'll be friends with you."

"Really?" I said a bit too eagerly.

"But I am not a charity case. I like my privacy and that doesn't make me an anti-social freak. I want you to understand and respect that. And, if need be, try to make Uncle Carl and Aunt Sandra understand and respect that too. Do we have a deal?"

"Absolutely!" I shout at her, making her jump back. "Sorry. I'm new to this whole friends thing."

"I thought you were friends with Ron."

"I said friend_**s**_, plural."

Gwen chuckled and bent down to grab her things. "You should sit out the rest of the day. It'll take time for those wounds to heal."

"Trust me, I have no issue with hiding out here until school's over."

"Glad to see we're on the same page. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Looking forward to it."

Gwen left the nurse's office and shut the door behind her, leaving me totally alone.

Or so I thought. I hear the medical closet door slowly creak open and look to see Janna's smirking face pop out.

"What?" I ask her.

"I told you people would stop hating you if you just talked to them."

"Sh-shut up."

"Saying 'shut up' just means I'm right."

I don't offer a rebuttal. "Hey, sorry about going off on you this morning."

"It's cool. You know I like getting under your skin. Which reminds me." Janna lifted her hat and a white T-shirt fell out. She picked it up and tossed it at me. It lands right on my lap on top of the belts. "Snagged that from the boys locker room. Don't worry, it's clean. Cleaner than that anyway." Janna points at the shirt I was currently wearing and, like I said, when you're right, you're right.

I reach down to pull my shirt off, but my shoulders still ache. "Hey, do you think you could give me a hand with this?" Janna's sly grin grew even wider and I just realized what I asked her to do. "You know what? Forget I said anything. I'll just do it myself."

"All right. Just remember Maxwell, I'm always watching." Janna began to slowly close the medical closet door while maintaining eye contact with me. "Alwaaaaaaays…" she whispers before finally closing the door, sealing herself in. I slowly get up from my chair, my joints aching as I do so, and walk towards the medical closet. I open the door only to find that Janna had disappeared.

"That girl is spooky."

…

As I walk out of the school, the sense of relief I thought I'd have never came. And it's all because of one last minute announcement by Principal Rotwood.

"_Now remember students, tomorrow the Overlord vill be paying us a visit! Isn't it vunderbar that the man responsible for our safety vill be coming to meet us!" _Muttered: "_Especially since he can kill us all at a moment's notice"_ Not muttered: _"All students vill be required to be in the auditorium first thing in the morning. Don't be late!"_

Aren't there enough jackasses in this school already? On the way out I run into Ron, who notices my new T-shirt.

"Should I not ask?" He asks me.

"Janna lent me a new shirt to replace that old gross one."

"What happened to the old gross one?"

"I don't know. I left it behind in the nurse's office. Knowing her, she's probably doing something weird with it right now."

"You mean like that?"

Ron pointed over at Janna, who was holding the stained sweatshirt in her hands and taking a big whiff.

"Ahhh…" She sighed. "Smells like cheap tomato sauce and desperation." I look straight ahead as Ron and I walk past her. "See you tomorrow, Maxwell."

"Remind me why I go to this school again?" I ask Ron. Once again, Ron points at something. This time I see the Three Ash-holes struggling to get on the bus while using their hands to keep their pants up. Cash turns around and sees me watching their struggles.

"What are you looking at, Maximum Fuckface?"

"Nothing, Cash. Absolutely nothing." I turn to Ron. "Think you'll be fine on the bus by yourself?"

"I've lost my pants enough times to know that you need both hands to keep your undies from showing. So, I think I'll be fine. Meet you at Bueno Nacho?"

"As soon as I stop by the Tennysons."

"See you then."

Rufus pops his head out of Ron's pocket and waves. "bye-bye."

The Tennyson's house is just a few blocks away, so I don't take any of the buses and just walk there. After the Diazes…we all relied on them in our own way. The Tennysons gained a small and healthy sense of relief with them around, something they didn't have for five whole years! As for me, well, they kept me from being cooped up in an empty house all day.

So, we agreed that every day, I would show up to visit them just like I did with the Diazes. I admit, I was hesitant at first. I didn't want to be too close to someone just to lose them again. But I did have one very good reason to keep coming.

I arrive at their front door and ring the bell. After a few seconds, Mrs. Tennyson opens the door wearing a tracksuit and sweatband.

"Oh, Max! What happened to you?" She said referring to the many cooling pads all over my body.

"This? Oh, it's nothing, just a bad step on a staircase. The bruising should go away soon."

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I promise, everything's fine Mrs. Tennyson."

"Okay," she did not sound convinced. "Well, come in, I was just getting ready to go jogging."

"Hey, Mrs. Tennyson." I step inside to the living room. "Is she still up?"

"She's lying down upstairs. Do you want to see her?"

"Don't I always?"

I go upstairs and went into the third door down the hall to the right. I open the door to see an entirely pink room complete filled with stuffed toys, a changing station, and a crib. Lying on that crib, with the biggest, most beautiful eyes in the world, was the little Latina, Mariposa Diaz.

If the name wasn't a big enough tip-off, Rafael and Angie had a baby before joining the resistance against the Overlord. They both wanted Mari to grow up without having to live under someone else's thumb and they trusted Carl and Sandra to look after her if anything happened to them. I've always had a soft spot for babies, so when the two of them ask me to look after her every time Carl was at work or Sandra was on one of her health runs.

Mariposa woke up and looked at me. She giggled as soon as she saw a familiar face.

"Hi, Mari!" I say quietly. I gently place one finger on her tummy and begin tickling her. "A-GOO-GOO-GOO-GOO-GOO-GOO-GOO!" Mariposa giggled even louder.

"Well isn't this sweet." I turn to see Mrs. Tennyson at the door.

"It's really hard to not want to see her smile." I explain.

"I'm a mom, remember? I understand that feeling better than most." Mrs. Tennyson walks up to a white wooden drawer covered in pink butterflies and pulls out a baby bjorn. "Are you sure you don't want to come jogging with me? It's only for two hours and Mariposa could use some sunshine."

"N-no thanks." Jogging for two _minutes _is a nightmare to me, but I don't let her know that.

"You're right. That much movement might be too much for Mari. There's also the matter of, you know…"

"Diapers?"

"Exactly." Mrs. Tennyson put the baby bjorn back into the drawer. "I'll be back at 6:00. Until then, I left you some steamed tofu and wheat germ with algae in the kitchen."

"Y-yay."

"You take care now." She walks over to Mariposa's crib and talks to her in a baby-voice. "And you too, my little Mari-Posie!" She bends over and kisses her forehead. After she leaves and I hear the front door click, I run to the kitchen. Sure enough, on the counter is a casserole dish filled with the stuff Sandra dumped together and called food. As much as I love Sandra, the "healthy" stuff she makes will kill me far faster than processed sugar ever would.

I pick up the container and bring it to the sink. I turn on the cold water and switch on the garbage disposal. As I listen to the buzzing sound of the blade underneath, I remove the lid and accidently take a whiff. Despite not even having lunch, I feel the bile rise up in my throat.

"Ugh, hate to do this to you, sink. But I sure as hell can't eat this." I grab a fork and dump the contents into the drain. It might just be my imagination, but even the garbage disposal sounds like its struggling to keep from throwing up. Eventually, all of it goes down and I turn the sink off. I wash the dish and put it back in the cabinet with the other pans.

I go back upstairs and strap the baby bjorn to my chest. I pick Mariposa up from her crib and gently put her in the bjorn.

"Come on Mari, let's meet up with Ron and get some real food." Mariposa giggles and claps her hand at the thought of going outside.

So cuuuuuutteee…

…

Ten minutes later, I see Ron standing at the Bueno Nacho parking lot. He waves at me as I approach him.

"Hey Max. And hello, Mariposa!" Ron bent down to see Mariposa in the eye. He brought a finger to her chin and I pulled away immediately, holding Mariposa for dear life. "I wasn't going to do anything to her!"

"I've seen what you've done to a sack of flour, I'm not taking any chances. Anyway, let's head in, there's thirty bucks worth of salsa and cheese with your name on it."

Rufus popped out of Ron's pocket and licked his lips. "Mmm! Salsa!"

We went in, and while Ron was ordering enough food to feed a starving country in Africa, I just ask for a plate of nachos, some soda, and a highchair for Mariposa. We take our seats and I strap Mariposa in while Ron and Rufus pig out.

I open my backpack to reveal dozens of cups of baby food. You see, unlike most fast food places, Bueno Nacho doesn't have a kid's menu, so I need to pack some stuff from the Tennyson's before we go out. I dig into the bag while putting on my worst French accent.

"_Now mademoiselle, what shall be your order zis afternoon? Our menu includes ze strained peas, ze pear puree—" _Mariposa starts giggling and tries to reach into the bag. _"Ah! I see you are interested in our Apple, Strawberry, Banana Blend. Excellent choice, Madam." _

I open the baby food and scoop out some of it with a spoon. "Say Ahh!" I tell her softly. Mariposa opens her mouth but before I put the first spoonful in, my phone rings. I put the baby food on the highchair's little table and take out my phone. The caller ID read "MOM."

"Hey, I need to take this," I explain to Ron. "Can you take over?"

Ron wipes a beard of cheese sauce off his face with his sleeve. "You can count on me!" He says with a mouth full of beef and chips.

"I wasn't talking to you. Rufus!" Rufus pops out of a burrito he was gorging himself on. With the salsa covering his body, it made him look like a chest-burster from Aliens. I pick him up with a napkin and wipe him clean. I drop him in front of Mariposa and put the spoon in his hands. "You're in charge while I'm away. Can I trust you?"

Rufus puffs out his chest and salutes. "Mm-hmm."

"I'll be back in five." I get up and head to the bathroom. I never told my parents about Ron, or the Diazes, or the Tennysons. I'm not ashamed or anything, it's just that they're so busy all the time I hardly ever really have the chance to tell them anything. And when I do have the chance, it sorta slips my mind. So, I figured it'd be easier to just keep it secret so they can focus on their work without worry.

I step inside a small stall and lock the door. Afterwards, I lover the toilet lid and sit down. Finally, I answer my phone.

"Hey mom," I say to her. "Sorry it took so long to pick up. I was uh, in the bathroom."

"It's fine, sweetie." Mom said. "Listen, I need to tell you something." She sounded serious. Usually, when I talk to Mom, she's either dead tired from working or excited to not be working. I can't recall the last time I heard her so dour. "We can't do your birthday next week."

"Wh-what?" I misheard that right? That can't have been what she actually said. Right?

"There's been an accident at the factory floor. Don't worry about your father, he's fine and so is everyone else. But a lot of people will be on paid leave until they recover, so we'll both need to work longer to meet production. Which means we won't be getting our day off to spend with you for some time."

It feels like my heart has stopped beating. They-they can't be serious. "Can't they get someone else to do it?" I ask her.

"They offered to pay extra for anyone volunteering to stay and make up for the missing workers. We can't pass up an opportunity like this."

_I DON'T CARE ABOUT MONEY! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!_

A part of me wants to say that, I can feel the words exploding in my chest. But I keep them down, I know they're only doing this for my sake and that I have no right to complain.

"I'm really sorry about this, sweetie. I promise, next month we'll all celebrate together as a family."

"Next mo—" I cut myself off. It's fine. I can handle one more month without seeing either of them. It's just one day.

And then another. And then another. And then…

I push that thought out of my head and keep talking with my Mom. "Right, I understand. I'll see you guys in a month then." That came off more bitter than I intended.

"We really are sorry about this, Max. We'll still be able to see each other during the holiday. That's something to look forward to, right?"

"I guess."

"We promise we'll make up for the lost time. I love you, Max."

"I love you, too. Say hi to Dad for me."

"I will. I have to go back to work now. Bye."

"Bye." I hang up the phone. A lump starts to form in my throat, and it gets harder to breathe. I block the tears before they show up and try to take deep breaths.

I'm being ridiculous. My parents are the ones taking up extra work for _my_ sake. And that's not even mentioning all those injured workers. Those people have way more reasons to be upset than I do. I have nothing to cry about, so stop crying already!

I hear crying. I look up and hear that it's coming from the restaurant. I rush out of the bathroom and see Mariposa crying her eyes out while Rufus and Ron try to get her to stop.

"What did you do?" I ask Ron accusingly.

"Nothing! I swear!" He answers. "Mariposa put Rufus in her mouth and when I pulled him out, she went crazy!" I run up in front of Mariposa. Rufus was on the table doing a dancing routine with the spoon to try and cheer her up. I reach into my backpack and pull out the thing that always works.

I put on my cutesiest voice and stuck out my finger in front of her. _"Hi there! Say, what's with the waterworks? Aren't you happy to see me?" _ Mariposa stopped crying for a little bit and opened her eyes. Instead of seeing my bare finger, she saw the little finger puppet the Diazes used when Marco was a baby. I dance the puppet around, completely engrossing Mariposa. "_There, feeling better little girl? Would you like to hear a story?" _Mariposa claps her hands and giggles. I tell her the bedtime story her parents used when they were still here. "_…And after the battle, they had all the breakfast burritos they could ever want. The End." _Mariposa had calmed down completely, she was clapping and giggling her little head off. I give her the puppet and she falls asleep cuddling it. I pick her up and put her back in the baby bjorn without waking her up.

"Awww." I just now notice that everyone in Bueno Nacho was watching me do all that. I feel my face grow red as everyone looks at me. I grab the spoon and stuff it in my backpack before zipping it shut.

"Come on, Ron. We're leaving."

"What? Why?"

"I really don't need this kind of attention right now." But before I could leave, I was blocked by this heavyset woman smiling down at me from ear to ear. "C-can I help you?"

"Oh no, sweetie," she said in a husky voice. "I just wanted to congratulate you for being such a good father at your age."

I feel my blushing go even redder. "N-no, I'm not her father. I just—"

"Oh, there's no need to be so shy about it! We all make mistakes when we were young." The woman looks up as if she were recalling fond memories. She then pulls out her wallet and lends me a $20. "Here you go, honey."

"Ma'am, I can't accept this. I'm not—"

"Pish posh, I can tell a new parent when I see one. I mean, gosh, just look at how red your eyes are!"

I take out my phone to look at my reflection. Sure enough, my eyes were still red from that stint in the bathroom. I leave the money on the table and run out the door. "Sorry for disturbing you all!" I step out of the building and take deep breaths until my heart rate goes to normal.

"Max?" I turn to see Ron looking concerned. "What was going on back there?"

"Oh, uh, sorry about the freak out. The truth is, I wanted to get out of there before someone from school saw me doing…that."

"Doing what? Handling a crying baby like a pro? You were amazing back there!"

"Ron, you heard that woman. She thought I wasa dad! A _teen dad. _Do you have any idea how bad my reputation could get if a rumor liked that spreads?"

"Yeah, I gotta be honest with you. After today, no idea how it could get any worse."

"I'm serious. The last thing I need is having people think I'd make a mistake like that."

"First of all, Max, babies are never a mistake. And second, you need to chill. Trust me, anyone from school who saw you back there would think you were amazing."

"You really think so?"

"Totally." Rufus popped out of Ron's pocket and agreed with him.

"Thanks guys. Hey, do you wanna watch TV back at the Tennysons with me?"

"Heck yeah! Just let me grab a doggie bag. Or six."

…

Mariposa woke up by the time we got back, so we Netflix'd a bunch of kid shows until she fell asleep again. Since Sandra is a health nut, I told Ron we were gonna have to eat all his leftovers before Mrs. Tennyson, but that quickly turned out to be no problem. Seriously, where does he put it all?

Eventually, Mrs. Tennyson came back from her jog and Mr. Tennyson came back from work.

"Hello Maxwell. Ronald." Carl said.

"Hey Mr. and Mrs. T," Ron greeted.

"Hi guys." I said. "Mariposa's upstairs sleeping and we finished your delicious steamed tofu thing."

"Oh, that so nice to hear!" Mrs. Tennyson said. She took off her headband and turned to her husband. "I'm going to go check on the little angel right now."

Mrs. Tennyson headed upstairs while Mr. Tennyson stayed with us. He turned to us and said, "You made sure to put the bags in the trash outside?"

"Please sir, we're not amateurs," I assure him.

"Yeah, I'm still having nightmares about her Kimchi Kefir smoothies." Ron shivers as he remembers the awful taste that didn't leave our mouths for an entire week. "Well, it's getting late. Me and Max ought to be heading home by now."

"Y-yeah," I said. "We'd stay for dinner but, uh…"

"I understand," Carl assured us. "I hope you boys will be dropping by again tomorrow."

"You know it Mr. T," Ron told him. "See ya at school tomorrow, Max."

"See ya," I said. Ron leaves. I go to follow him, but Mr. Tennyson puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me. "Is something wrong, sir?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing. Come with me, if you don't mind." I follow Mr. Tennyson to the garage. He opens a mini-fridge and pulls out two cans of beer. "You want one?"

"I'm not allowed to drink, sir."

"I know. That was a test." He puts one of the beers back in the fridge and opens the other one. After taking a sip, he points at a couple of folded up lawn chairs. "Help me out with that, will ya?" We both open up one of the chairs and sit down on them. After another sip, Carl puts down his beer.

"What did you want to talk about?" I ask him.

"You didn't seem all that happy about the idea of going home," he points out. "Is there something going on I should know about?"

_I don't want to go back to a dark empty house, knowing that it'll be a month before I see my parents again._

"Not really," I tell him. "No offense, but this is really a family matter and I—I… Oh God. Oh my God! I'm so sorry! I wasn't trying to—"

"It's okay, Max." He sighed. "It's okay."

Why did I say that? Idiot! The man's lost his son and I said _that _to him? What the hell's wrong with me?

"You know," Mr. Tennyson begins. "After Ben was born, the doctor told Sandra that she might never give birth again. We were shocked at first, but over time we came to accept it. So long as Ben was alright, we had all the kids we needed. And then, on that day, that damn day from six years ago…" Mr. Tennyson never got the words out. Instead he just chugged his beer until he calmed down. "You know, my dad was in charge of watching him. We searched those woods until the second half of the summer. By that time, I told Dad I never wanted to see him again. And for the first time in my life, he actually listened to me. Now, as far as I know, both my son and my Dad are dead." Mr. Tennyson didn't drink his beer this time, instead he just sobbed quietly for a few seconds. I didn't know what to do at the time. How can you tell a man who's lost his son that everything will be fine? He regains his composure and wipes his eyes with his arms. "Anyway, Sandra and I pray every day that Ben will return to us, but until then we remained a broken home. Then, we met you-know-who."

"Angie and Rafael."

"They've been going through the same nightmare that we've been but being with them managed to be the only source of relief we've had in years. When they trusted us to look after their daughter after their exile, we finally felt like we could be a family again. Don't get me wrong, no one could ever replace Ben, but it felt so right to be taking care of a child again. What we didn't know that day is that we'd be taking care of two."

"A-are you talking about me?"

"You come here every day after school, you do your homework here, you watch our TV, you (sometimes) eat our food, and you love Mariposa as if she were your sister. And in a lot of ways, you remind me of Ben. He could be a real doofus sometimes, but he had a strong heart, an unyielding urge to help others, and the spirit to stand up to those who do nothing but knock other people down. You say this is a family matter, well as far as I know, you are family. I just hoped you felt the same way."

"Sir, I-I'm sorry. I—"

"Don't apologize. I'm not angry at you and I'm not trying to guilt-trip you either. I just want you to know that if anything's bothering you, you can tell me."

I didn't say anything. I just spent the next few seconds taking I what he said. Finally, I give him an answer. "I…I'm sorry. Telling you wouldn't be right."

"Wouldn't be right for who?"

"My parents. Like I said, this is a family matter, and I do care about you, Mrs. Tennyson, and Mariposa like family. Really, I do. But telling you this without telling them, it feels like I'm betraying them somehow. So, I-I can't. It just wouldn't be right to them."

"I see. Well then," Mr. Tennyson got up and lent me a hand. "whenever you're ready to do what's right for you, we'll be here."

I don't say anything. At this point I'm exhausted, this whole day has just been one long emotional beatdown after another.

"Would you like me to drive you back home?" Mr. Tennyson asks me.

"No thanks," I tell him. "I think I'll walk. I need to go clear my head. It's been a rougher day than usual."

"Alright, Max. You just be careful out there."

"I will. Thanks, Mr. Tennyson."

"No problem."

Mr. Tennyson opens the garage door and I take my leave. During my walk back home, I try not to think. About what Mr. Tennyson said about doing what's right for me. About how I humiliated myself in front of the whole school. About how someone from Bueno Nacho might get the wrong idea and spread rumors about me. About my promise with Gwen to tell her aunt and uncle to respect her privacy which I forgot about. About my parents cancelling my birthday so they can work even more.

I just walk and occasionally look up at the night sky. Apparently, when the Overlord built this place, he gave the Dome a feature so whenever the sun went down, the dome would light up, making it look like there were a billion stars overhead no matter how bright it was down here. Say what you want about the guy, and I do, but he sure does appreciate a nice view.

About halfway to my house, I hear the telltale noise of metal shoes stepping on pavement. I stop and turn around to see. Yep, another Forever Knight.

"What do you want?" I tell him in an annoyed tone. "One of your buddies already scanned me and if I weren't normal, I wouldn't be here. So, go bother somebody else."

"I think not, you little shit." When he spoke, his voice sounded oddly familiar.

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be the same Forever Knight from this morning, would you?"

"That's right." He reaches up, takes off his helmet and drops it on the sidewalk. "And I feel that you can do with learnin' some manners."

"Manners? To you? Please, so long as I'm still human and not actively working against his 'high-and-mightiness' you and the rest of the Overlord's goon brigades can't do shit to me."

"Not on duty, no. But we're not on duty right now, right boys?"

All of a sudden, I hear laughter coming from different directions. I look around and see several large men walking towards me with evil grins on their faces.

My confidence wavered and I was forced to back up to the alley behind me. "T-take it easy, guys." I say nervously. "Can't we just, you know, forgive and forget?"

"No." The Forever Knight spat. "Not until you learn to give the authorities proper respect."

I walk backwards, staring at their cruel, eager faces as they lurched closer. Then, I run away from them as fast as I can.

"Get 'im!" One of them shouted.

I make a left turn and spot a trash can. I knock it over before running again. As I run, I hear what sounds like those guys falling over that trash can before getting back up again. Normally, I'd turn to laugh at something like that, but I don't dare turn around in this situation. I just keep running until I see a chain link fence. I run straight towards it and jump, wrapping my fingers through the little holes. I climb up as fast as possible before pulling myself over it and landing on my feet. I take off without wasting a second, before making another turn and coming face to face with a dead end.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!"

I hear the fence rattle as those thugs climb over it. I look around me and see a dumpster right underneath a fire escape. I climb on top of the dumpster and jump at the fire escape's ladder, but I can't reach it. No matter how hard I jump, my fingers don't even graze the first rung.

"He went this way!" I hear the last guy make it over the fence and start running. No time to be careful, I step back as far as I can on the dumpster and sprint forward with all my speed. I leap as hard as I could when I near the end and reach as far as I could with both hands.

I get closer to sweet freedom. I feel the cold bar on my fingertips. I fall flat on my face.

I couldn't get a grip on the ladder. As I laid there on the cold asphalt, I hear scornful laughter approaching. I look up and see the faces of my pursuers. The lead one steps up in front of them and cracks his knuckles.

"Looks like your luck's run out." He lifts up his armored foot, ready to literally kick me while I'm down. But just then a purple blur falls from the sky and lands on top of him. The blur stands up and reveals to be shaped like a girl about my age. Her hair was a mass of glowing pink light that hung loosely from her head to her waist. She wore a dark blue T-shirt that exposed her mid-riff, skirt, and boots. Each one of them had a light blue stripe going down the middle. She also had light blue gloves and a white belt. She had a large blue watch wrapped around her wrist. On her chest was a black cat's head with pink eyes. And she wore a large blue mask covering half her face except her eyes, which also glowed just like her hair.

"It's the Anodite!" One of the thugs shouts. They all rush towards her without hesitation, but the girl just disappears, and all four of them stop dead in their tracks.

"Looking for someone?" The second thug to the left got a vicious kick to the back and fell over. The other three turned around and charged at her with fists ready to swing. The girl blocked one of the punches with her forearm and ducked the other two. She grabbed the middle guys shoulders and flipped herself over him before hurling him into the wall besides me. She turns around and kicks one of the other two guys in the face, knocking him out cold.

After seeing his friends taken down so swiftly, the last thug pulled out a weird knife filled with bizarre red symbols on it.

"I hear your kind are composed of magic," he told her. "I've never heard of a more repugnant race. As such, the Huntsclan have perfected this dagger. Once its blade knows your skin, it will eat away at the magic within you until you are naught but an empty husk. Now prepare to—AAAHHH!" The Anodite blasts him with a ray of pink energy. The Huntsclan member hit the wall and fell unconscious.

"Seriously," the Anodite complains, "what is it with bad guys and monologuing about their weapons in the middle of a fight?" She starts talking to her watch. "False alarm Wade, it turns out these guys were just ganging up on some kid."

"Wow," the watch replied. "and I thought the Overlord was low."

"Tell me about it. These guys should be out for a while, so I have plenty of time to take him home before I wipe their memories. You just keep me posted."

"Will do."

The Anodite turns away lowers her arm and offers me a hand.

"Need some help?"

"You're Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu-Lu—"

"If you're trying to serenade me, it could do some work. I'm Lucky Girl."

I take Lucky Girl's hand and she helps me up. "I know. I-I'm Max. I know everything about you!"

My outburst caught her completely off-guard. "Shit! That's not what I meant. I mean I've been following you online. You know those videos of you beating up the Overlord's goons? I watch those all the time."

"Really? I thought the Overlord got rid of those as soon as they were put up."

"It's the internet, nothing's gone forever. But yeah, I kinda have a thing for superheroes. Not a _thing _thing, I'm just a fan."

"Well, it's always nice to meet a fan. So, what's your address?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I can't really teleport you home if I don't know where you live."

"You can do that? What am I saying? Of course, you can do that!" I give her my address and she steps to the side and lifts her hands in the air.

"_Abeo Exorior!"_

A large pink dome encapsulated us and the next thing I know we went from being in that alley to right in front of my house. The dome disappears and Gwen gestures to my home.

"Here we are!" She says merrily. "I hope you're feeling alright. First time teleportation can be a bit rough on the stomach." I looked at her with my jaw hanging to the ground. "Is something wrong?"

I shake myself out of my stupor. "N-nothing! It's just that…I 've never seen anyone do anything you can do! You're probably the most amazing person I've ever met!"

"That's sweet of you to say, but I know some pretty amazing people myself."

"Wh-Who are they?"

"Afraid I can't tell you. I got to get back to those jerks that ambushed you and wiped your memories."

"R-right. Because you can just do that apparently." I mumbled to myself. "Thanks again for saving me!"

She turns to me one last time before disappearing. "Don't mention it." She casts her spell again and vanishes. I stand there for a while just taking in what just happened.

I talked to Lucky Girl. I talked with_ a friggin' superhero! _This is amazing! I've studied heroes all my life, but I never thought I'd see one in person! This is the best day of my life! Y'know aside from…everything.

I was feeling pretty good about myself as I walked to the front door. That is, until I discovered that it was unlocked. My heart dropped and I could feel a chill running down my spine. I grab the knob and slowly open the door just enough so that I could stick my arm out. I flicked on the nearby light switch and peaked out to see inside.

At first, everything seems alright, but then I notice something odd on the coffee table. Carefully, I step inside the house and close the door. I approach the object, trying to make as little noise as possible in case someone was still in here. As I get closer, I notice that the object is a clear plastic bag with a sticky note on it. I looked over and read the note.

_Here's everything I owe you._

_You sure know how to pack a lunch, Maxwell._

_I like that. _

_ -J_

_P.S. I also dumped your old shirt in your hamper for you._

I relax as soon as I realized it was just Janna. Like I said, she's harmless. She pickpockets me and steals my lunch, but it's not like she'd take something from my home.

…

I double check to make sure she didn't take anything from my home. Everything seems to be in order, she even left my old sweatshirt in my hamper like she said she would.

I check the time. It's 7:00. A little late, but a good enough time for dinner. I open the bags and check the contents. There's a grilled cheese and bologna sandwich, a 12 oz. bottle of V8, an apple, and a bag of chocolate chip cookies. Exactly like my lunch from earlier. I guess I'll have to thank Janna at school tomorrow. Or I'll just tell her to stop stealing my things and breaking into my house. Yeah, I think I'll do that.

I pull out the sandwich and take a bite. As I chew, I think back to everything that's happened today and every other day since we moved here.

I swallow and talk to no one in particular. "I've seen enough TV to know that I shouldn't say this, but still, it really can't get any weirder than this."


	2. It Gets Weirder

I really don't want to get out of bed today. After thinking that I - actually I didn't think at all. I just got pissed off and humiliated myself. I don't want to go to school or even leave the house. But if I don't, it might bruise the Overlord's ego. And as much as I hate the guy, I'm not stupid enough to slip out on his big day.

I crawl out of bed. As usual, my parents are gone ling before I woke up. I do my usual routine; get breakfast, brush teeth, apply deodorant, get dressed. This usually leaves me with just enough time to watch some TV before I need to get to school. Unfortunately, the only thing on is that asshole's infomercial reminding us that he's the only reason we're still alive.

I decide to just get up and leave right now. As I walk out the door, I turn to pay my respects for the Diaz family but then, out of the corner of my eye, I see a Forever Knight. I can't tell if it's the same one from last night but I'm not stupid enough to antagonize him again. I keep my head down and walk straight towards the bus stop. As I wait for the bus, I remind myself to come back and pray for them later.

The bus arrives and I climb aboard. I go to take my seat next to Ron only to get tripped up and fell on my face again. I turn around to see the three Ash-holes, only this time they're not laughing at me. Instead, they seem incredibly pissed off. Dash gets up from his seat and reaches down to grab me by the front of my shirt. He pulls me up so that my face is an inch away from his.

"That freakshow friend of yours made me and my pals fall down a flight of stairs! And we had to come home holding our pants up!"

"I-I had nothing to do with that!" I told him.

"Well she's not here, is she?" Cash pointed out.

"And the only reason we got hurt was because we was chasing that other loser," Bash said.

"Meaning you two are going to pay us back," Dash demanded. "Let's see now, those belts costed $30 each so altogether that's about..." Dash drifted off as he tried to wrap his mind around the complex process of basic multiplication. I had hoped that if I stayed quiet long enough, he'd come to the conclusion that he owed me money. Unfortunately, Cash turned out to be smarter than I gave him credit for.

"90!" he shouted.

"90 bucks for all of us. You know what? How about we round it up to an even $100?"

Well, it looks like he knows how to round things at least. Though now I doubt he knows what an even number is.

"That's enough Dash."

I turn to see Gwen standing behind me, giving Dash and the others a disapproving look. Dash almost immediately lets me go and I fall back on the floor.

"You're so pathetic," I hear Dash say as I pull myself up. Gwen offers a hand but I tell her I got it. "Always hiding behind a girl in order to win your fights. They're not going to protect you forever. And if you and that other geek don't pay up by the end of the day, we'll take it out of your hide."

"He doesn't owe you creeps anything!" Gwen said in my defense. "Why don't you grow actual personalities instead of-"

"Gwen, that's enough," I interrupt her. "Let's just go."

I make my way to my seat. Gwen gives the three Ash-holes another angry look before following me.

"100 bucks!" Dash shouts as I stroll past the other bus passengers. "Bring it to us by the final bell, Maximum Fungus. Or what happened yesterday is gonna look like a tickle fight!" The three of them start laughing, presumably over the idea of kicking my ass. When I approach Ron, I plop down next to him while Gwen takes the seat across the aisle.

"I take it you've heard everything?" I ask him with my arms crossed, holding my backpack.

"Oh man," Ron said, "how are we going to get that much cash by the end of school?"

"We can't. They're just looking for an excuse to beat our asses. Either that or they're really stupid enough to think that it's possible."

"I'd say it's a little bit of both," Gwen guessed. "Speaking of what happened yesterday, are you alright?"

"I'll live. Well, probably not for long but, I don't hurt as much."

"That's good to hear."

"Thanks." It's honestly hard to believe that Gwen Tennyson is really a friend of mine. She always seemed so aloof and yet here she is, actually hanging out with us. I did start to feel a little better, until Ron reminded us what we were talking about ten seconds ago.

"Well isn't this nice? The Dynamic Duo are now the Three Amigos. But may I remind you that two of us are in the biggest trouble of our lives?! We have six hours to whip up a $100 or we're goners! Rufus, you see any dough in there?" Rufus pops out of Ron's pocket holding a lump of pocket lint in his hands. Rufus throws the lint away and shakes his head at Ron. "Aw man!" Ron turns to me. "Didn't you say your parents gave you a huge allowance every week?" He asks. "Didn't you save enough to pay them?"

"I did," I told him, "but I doubt Dash takes credit cards."

"You shouldn't have to give those guys anything," Gwen said. "I mean this is extortion. Can't you just tell a teacher?"

"Dash is the star of the football team," I explain to her.

"Which basically means that he and all his buddies are untouchable," Ron finishes.

"So anything we say about him to a teacher is pointless."

"That is asinine," Gwen points out.

"Well it's true. Besides, right now I'm more upset about having to attend that rally."

"The one with the Overlord?"

"Yep. Remember last year's? All he did was talk about how insignificant we are compared to him and how we should be grateful we're still here. The guy's not even trying to look like not an asshole. Though, given how he dresses, I suppose that should be obvious."

"You do got to admit," Ron started, "it's safer here than out there."

My mind goes back to what happened last night. I don't want to think about what would happen if Lucky Girl hadn't shown up.

"I'm not so sure about that," me and Gwen ended up saying at the same time. I look at her, confused. Gwen decides to change the subject.

"Anyway, it's just a few minutes of our 'glorious leader' patting himself on the back. We just sit there, then we move on."

"I guess," I tell her, "but still, every day is a reminder that we're all under his thumb. That people are gone now because of him. I won't forgive him for tha-AAH!" The bus driver slammed on the brake and I collided with the seat in front of me.

"Ooh!" Ron says excitedly.

"I know. I know." I switch seats with him just as Bonnie and Kim step inside.

"Hey KP," Ron says, trying to sound smooth. "might I just say that I am digging what you've done with your-" they both walk by without even looking at him. "Uh, th-that's cool! See ya at lunch!"

"Dude, I know you like her and all, but it's painful watching you get snubbed like this."

"Why do you keep trying to ask her out anyway?" Gwen asks him.

"Ron's had the hots for her since kindergarten," I explain.

"I'm telling you, if we had just met in pre-K, she wouldn't be able to resist me," Ron insists.

"Uh-huh," I say, not convinced. "But instead she met Bonnie, and those two have done nothing but treat everyone like bugs ever since. Isn't that what you told me?"

"More or less. But I'm telling you there's more to her than that. I can feel it."

"We're almost at school," Gwen tells us. Sure enough, one look out the window confirmed it. "I'm going to try to look for a solution to your 'debt' problem. Ron, good luck with your love quest or whatever you want to call it. And Max, it's just a few minutes. It'll be over before you know it."

"Thanks Gwen," Ron tells her.

"Thanks," I repeat.

The bus stops and everyone gets off to start the school day.

"Let's get this over with," I say before getting up to join the crowd.

* * *

At 4th period, everyone heads to the school auditorium. Normally, there's no way that the auditorium would fit the entire student population, but the Overlord was able to make it so huge, it looked more like a Broadway theatre.

I take my seat around the upper-middle portion along with the other Juniors. Janna just so happens to be sitting right behind me.

"Hey Maxwell," she greets me.

"Hi," I respond with my arms crossed, noticeably less than thrilled.

"Well, aren't we all pleased as punch. Come on, it's like the guy said-"

I put my hand in front of her face before she can pull out another Overlord motivational poster. "Not. Now. I'm about to hear the guy tell us how insignificant we are. I don't need to read it."

"Fine, fine. So, how are you gonna pay back those guys by the end of the day?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Word travels fast, and the Three Ash-holes aren't really the quiet type."

"I thought me and Ron were the only ones who called them that?"

"You tend to mumble when you think you're alone. Gotta admit, it's kinda catchy."

Ron shows up right afterwards and sit right next to me.

"Okay," he says, "So far, I've gotten three people to lend me 5 bucks, 7 more guys two bucks, and even managed to score a full tener! Adding it up I say we have..." Ron runs the numbers in his head and slumps into his seat "...a snowball's chance in hell in paying those guys back."

Principal Rotwood walks up on stage and steps behind the podium.

_"Guten Morgen _students. Quiet down now." Everyone pipes down as Principal Rotwood clears his throat and reads his prepared speech. He speaks with as much enthusiasm as a man forced to spout bullshit can muster. Judging by the nearby whispers, a large portion of the audience was ignoring him, continuing whatever conversation they had as Principal Rotwood went on."As you all know, today is ze second year anniversary when our glorious ruler, ze Overlord, created ze largest city ever constructed in the history of mankind und graciously allowed us in, safe from a cruel, destitute world crawling with monsters und villains. Ensuring our security by hiring the most professional of professionals in the field of ghosts, evos, aliens, und magical creatures.

"Of course," he says a bit more organically, "I'm sure, he could've made good use of my expertise if he hadn't... generously granted me this opportunity to be your princi...PA-AAAHH! AAAAHHHHH!"

Everyone in the audience stopped whatever they were doing and were now paying full attention to Principal Rotwood. Rotwood's head and upper body were no longer visible but his arms could still be seen holding on to the podium for dear life. The roar of no creature I have ever heard before came from behind the podium, filling the room along with the principal's cries for help.

"_Es tut mir leid! _I'll follow the script! I'LL FOLLOW THE SCRIPT!" The roars stop and Principal Rotwood slowly pulls himself back into view, panting heavily as he delivered the final line. "Now students... Please give a round of... applause... to our benevolent dictator...the Overlord!" Principal Rotwood looks over to the right, where a spotlight flashes to reveal nothing. "Uh, sir?" he asks. "Are you there?"

Everyone in the audience starts muttering to each other. I turn to Ron and from the look on his face, he was finding this as weird as I did. "Maybe he got stage fright?" he wonders.

"No way," I tell him. "Remember last year? He showed up before Rotwood could finish speaking so that he could spend the next hour telling us about how the world got fucked up and how we should all be grateful to him."

"Oh yeah. I remember taking a nap about twenty minutes in and when I woke up, Mr. Barkin was waiting to give me weekend detention for sleeping through the whole school day."

"Maybe he just came to freak us out by nearly turning Rotwood into monster chow," Janna suggests.

"Uh, guys?" I pointed over at something I noticed from the corner of my eye. At the far corner of the auditorium, a bright white light shown through the surrounding darkness. The light began to grow both bigger and brighter, spreading all over the walls and forcing everyone to look away. And that's when I saw something even weirder.

In the center of the Overlord's empty spotlight, a large black mass was pulsing for everyone to see, thin wisps of darkness being pulled in from outside the light. Somehow, this thing was absorbing the darkness surrounding it, leaving the light in its place.

About half-a-minute later, the light covered all the walls and ceiling and glowed brighter than the sun. Even as I closed my eyes, I could still see the whiteness searing them. But when I faces the pulsating darkness at the center of the stage, the pain went away. It was like I had to look at it or else. That's when it hit me, what was going on.

As all the darkness in the room moved towards the core, it began to shrink. It shook violently as it got smaller and smaller until it finally exploded, sending a wave of pitch-black darkness that covered everything.

I couldn't see anything, not the stage, not Ron, not even my own hand right in front of me. For a split second, I thought that I might've gone blind. But then my eyes started to adjust. Light came back into view. Not as strong as before. The auditorium looked the way it was when we all sat down. The only difference was that now he was standing right in the center of the stage.

Dressed head to toe in solid black armor, the Overlord introduced himself with a slight bow with his right arm sticking out.

"Helloooo, NNN High!" he bellowed. He stood up straight, revealing his full outfit.

Red straps covered in spikes were wrapped around his biceps and his lower legs. The elbows each had one black spike curved and pointed down along his arms while the knees had spikes that pointed straight up. He wore a red belt with a silver skull emblazoned in the middle, only the lower jaw was missing and it had fangs. He had a red, intentionally tattered cape with a collar that reached halfway up his helmet. The helmet itself was shaped like the head of a fully grown ram with red eyes and curved horns. Between the horns was a floating crown wreathed in green flames. On his chest was a single glowing green eye about twice the size of a human fist. And while I couldn't see it from all the way up here, he had a green ring with a green skull on it on his left hand.

It was one of the most over-the-top bad guy outfits I'd ever seen. Imminent death is the only reason I didn't start laughing.

"Sorry for the wait," he continued, "but you can't really expect me to just walk on stage can you? You should see what I did at South New Norrisville High. I don't think the janitors will ever get rid of the smell. Know what I mean Rotweed?"

The principal made no effort to correct him. Instead, he chuckled nervously as he made his way to shake the Overlord's hand, conspicuously keeping us from seeing his back. "Yes, it is very funny. _Hahahaha! _Ahem. Wunderbar, for you to be visiting Mr-" The spike from the Overlord's elbow suddenly extended. Reaching a foot over his hand and nearly stabbing Principal Rotwood. "_Oh mein Gott!_"

"Oop! Sorry about that." He retracted the spike back to its normal size and wrapped his arm around Rotwood's shoulders. "It has a nasty tendency to pop out in inopportune moments. Something I'm sure half the people know all too well, isn't that right boys?" A few people from the audience do laugh at the Overlord's joke. But once he saw that not everybody was laughing, he snapped his fingers and all of a sudden my hands started to move on their own.

Not just mine. Ron, the guy on my right, the whole aisle, the entire audience have all started clapping. Everyone was clapping all in unison, all at the same time. Being forced to applaud a lame joke is one thing, but hearing an applause where everyone claps at the same time? It's eerie, it's unnatural. And this asshole's soaking it in like he's king of the world.

"Thank you, thank you! All of you! You're too kind! You are all too kind!" The Overlord shoves Rotwood so hard he slides out of view and the clapping stops. I can move my hands again, my palms soring from all the frequent slapping. "Now, who wants to hear the story of how I, your humble dictator, took the ruins of America's oldest city and transformed it into a monster-proof paradise!?" Several people applauded after that. The memo was officially gotten.

"Excellent!" he continued. "But this year, I'm going to shake things up a bit. I'll need a volunteer. Who feels like they're worthy of being on stage with me?" Not a single hand was raised. "Anyone? Anyone? No one? Hmm, then I guess I'll just pick one myself. How about...you?" All of a sudden, I wasn't in my seat. I was on the stage in the exact same position I was earlier. I fell backwards and landed on my head. I could hear the Three Ash-holes and some of the other popular kids laughing at me. "Hey there!" I see the Overlord's red-eyed goat head staring down at me. "Need a hand?"

I wordlessly reached up and grabbed the Overlord's hand. He pulled me up on my feet and turned over to the crowd. "You're a quiet one, aren't you?"

"I, uh," did I mention that I'm not good with crowds or public speaking?

"How about we start with something simple? What's your name?"

"M-Max."

"Max what exactly?"

I typically try to keep people from knowing my last name. I don't think I need to tell you why. But right now, I couldn't remember to do that and I just blurt it out.

"Force."

Almost immediately, the Overlord burst out laughing. "Max Force?" He said incredulously. "What? Do your parents hate you or something?"

"Th-they...that's not..."

"Ah, I'm just fucking with ya. Tell you what, we all know the story by now so how about I just ask you and the audience some questions, all right?"

"A-all right."

"Glad to see you're so accommodating. Question #1, whose your favorite hero?"

"You mean like in the movies or-"

"The real ones."

"Oh, um-"

"Hard to answer, right? Probably because so many of them aren't around anymore. Majestia, Team Go, Captain Nemesis; even the old Norrisville Ninja. So many great champions just _kckk!" _He moved his finger across his neck to emphasize his point. "Of course, I would argue they got off easy. Which brings me to question #2, would you rather be turned into a supervillain or die?"

"Wh-what kind of question is that?"

"That one caught you off guard didn't it? But I'd say it's a rather understandable question to ask. After all, one hero going rogue ended up doing this!" Suddenly we're all outside, as in outside the dome. Away from New Norrisville and into a completely abandoned city. The sky above was as gray as the ground below, any plant life that could be seen was barren and dead, the buildings surrounding us were leveled into next to nothing, it was like a war had broken out here and no one had come back since.

Everyone was freaking out at the sudden change of location. Several people tried to get off the bleachers to ask what was going on but the Overlord just waved his hand and everyone was forced back into their seats.

"Tragic, isn't it?" He asked. "One former hero did all this. Tell me, what was his name again? The ghost guy from Amity Park?"

"Danny Phantom?"

"Right, him. Anyway, no one knows what happened to him or why he did this. All we know is that one day he left. And when he returned, he had green skin, flaming hair, and a mile-wide mean streak. So one day, he just appeared in this happy little town of 'who-really-gives-a-shit' and leveled it to the ground. Then he did it again. And again. And again. And frankly, there's no telling if or when he'll ever stop."

"Excuse me?" One squeaky-voiced kid from the audience raised his hand. "This is all very exciting your lordship but do you think we can go ba-"

The Overlord waved his hand and the kid's mouth disappeared. The victim tried to scream but obviously couldn't. Everyone who was sitting near him and saw this ended up screaming for him. At this point the audience was desperately trying to get away but couldn't.

"It's not polite to interrupt." It has now dawned on me exactly who I was sharing the stage with. That on a whim this guy would kill everyone here and there was nothing we could do about it. I backed away slowly, but I barely got a step in before he raised his hand again and pulled me next to him. He wrapped his arm around me, squeezing me as tight as he could. Or at least as tight a normal person could. "It's also not polite to leave without saying anything. But for you, I'll make an exception. If you finally answering my questions. Like the next one, you believe I'm a hero, right?"

Is he serious? He does all this, dresses like that, and he wants to know if I think he's a hero or not?

The audience are far quicker to give a response.

"Yes!"

"You're our hero!"

"The best ever!"

"We love you!"

"NOBODY ASKED YOU!" He shouted in a voice that sounded nothing like he did before. Rather than a used car salesman, for that brief instance he sounded like a chorus of demons screeching all at once. He turned back to look at me. I know what he wanted me to say, but for some reason, the words wouldn't come out. The thought of saying them made my stomach churn.

"Come on!" he said in his normal voice, stretching out the "on" as if he were a character in a sitcom rather than a lunatic tyrant. "Is it really so hard to believe that I'm a hero? I mean, hell that guy probably would've killed you all by now if it weren't for me graciously using my power to give millions of people a safe place to life. I'd say that's a pretty good reason for you to call me a hero, right?" Suddenly, an ear-splitting roar came from the stage. I turned around to see a giant worm with spiked all over its body about few a miles away screeching to the sky before falling to the ground and speeding right towards us.

"EVOs," the Overlord explained calmly. "Nasty little bastards, aren't they? All it takes is for one of those little machines to decide to go crazy and suddenly, you wind up with that. Good thing I had those removed from everyone before they came in right. Make a pretty fugly yearbook photo, wouldn't it?"

"Get us out of here!" I yell at him. The worm was already halfway to the stage. Everyone in the bleachers were desperately squirming and begging so that they could run for their lives.

"Now now," the asshole told me. "We've got plenty of time just enough for you to answer my questions. Now then, question #3, am I a hero?"

I turn back and see the worm about a mile away from us. "Yes! You're a hero! A great hero!"

"Question #2, would you rather be a villain or die?"

Quarter mile now. "I don't want to die!"

"Question #1, who's your favorite hero?"

As he said that, the two of were covered in a large shadow. I look over my shoulder to see the giant worm looming over us. Rows of teeth layered out like a garbage disposal dripped with green saliva from the massive maw in its eyeless face. I gave my answer at the top of my lungs as it unleashed another scream. "You! You! My favorite hero is you!" The worm screamed one more time. I shut my eyes and scream, preparing for a horrible death.

But it never came. I open one eye and everything's changed again.

We were all back in the auditorium. Nobody was freaking out or looking scared. They were looking at me like I've lost my mind.

"Uh, what happened?" I asked.

"You were just telling me that I am your favorite hero of all time." The Overlord told me. "Which was expected of course but not quite so... enthusiastically."

"What? But-but how did...? Wh-why the. What happened to the-"

"Hey everybody look!" I hear Dash say from the front row. "Maximum Fanboy's freaking out!" As if on cue, the entire audience began laughing at me. It started with the other populars, but it slowly spread all the way until nearly everybody sitting down was laughing their asses.

I feel my heart pound in my chest. My breathing grew labored. The same amount of anxiety and panic I had with the worm came rushing back.

I can't take it anymore!

I rushed behind the stage and worked my way through a bunch of old props, equipment, and Mr. Rotwood wheezing into a paper bag before pushing open the doors into the hallway and running off to the nearest bathroom.

I check the stalls, going past the one that was out of order and the one with stains all over the seat, I sit down and try to catch my breath.

_Calm down! Just calm down! He humiliated you. Screwed with your head. Freaking out like this just gives him another win. So stop. Freaking. Out!_

**_You! You! My favorite hero is you!_**

That moment keeps playing inside my head. I'm hit with a wave of terror and nausea as my mind goes back to the ruined town. At that moment, I would've said anything, _believe _anything, if it meant he wouldn't kill me. For all the shit-talk I give about him, in the end there's nothing I can do. Not against the Ash-holes, not against the four clans patrolling the city, and definitely not against him.

My eyes start to get hot and I try to stem the flow of tears before it starts when I feel something tap my foot. I look down and see a McFistpad as well as a pair of sunglasses and what looks like the neutralizer from Men in Black. I check the stall next to me and don't see any feet.

"Hello!" I call. "Hello! Is there anybody in here?" I step out of the stall and check, but I still don't see anyone. After confirming that I am all alone, I grab a couple sheets of toilet paper and pickup the stuff, making sure not to touch the disgusting bathroom floor with my hands.

I rest the sunglasses and neutralizer on the sink and look at the McFistpad. After turning it on, it opens up with a weird message.

_THIS WORLD IS WRONG. _

_FIND THESE HEROES. REMIND THEM OF WHAT THEY'VE LOST. _

_THEY WILL DEFEAT THE CAUSE OF THIS AND FIX EVERYTHING._

"_Find these heroes? Remind them of what they've lost?" _What does any of this mean? And why would someone give me this? Is this supposed to be some kind of joke? But of so, from who? I check the stalls again. All unlocked. All unoccupied.

The only person I could think of who could do this is the Overlord. But why? Tricking me into making an ass of myself while showering him with praise makes sense. It's a dick thing to do, but it makes sense. This however, what's the logic behind it? There's no one around. Nobody to watch this and laugh. Unless this is still another mind trick.

Ignoring the notion so that I don't develop an existential crisis and go insane, I decide to believe that this thing is real. I look over at the neutralizer. If these heroes forgot something, then maybe this thing is supposed to have something to do with it?

As soon as I do, the McFistpad beeps. I turn back to the screen and nearly drop the thing in my shock.

"What the hell?"

At the top of the screen, it says "_FIND THIS HERO. BRING THEM TO YOUR CAUSE. THE DEVICE WILL HELP YOU."_

And right underneath it was a picture of Ron!

Now I know this was some kind of sick joke.

Ron? A hero? I like the guy and all but the dude can barely keep his pants up. I don't know who left me this stuff but I know what I'm going to do with it. I pick them all up and carry them to the trash can.

But before I do, I get a nagging feeling in my gut that maybe this thing is for real. I mean, if it is a joke it's very elaborate, not to mention expensive. These McFistpads cost a pretty penny and who'd waste that kind of money just to pull some stupid prank? If this thing is for real, and if that neuralyzer-looking thing is supposed to help. then maybe...Before I can make a decision, the door swings open.

"Max?" I turn to see Ron looking at me with a concerned expression.

"Hey," I say sheepishly while hiding the stuff behind me.

"Hey man, are you alright? I went looking for you as soon as I could. The assembly didn't take too long after you left he just-" My displeasure must've shown on my face. Ron's not exactly perceptive so it must've _really_ been showing it. "I-uh- do you need some space or...?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm just gonna chill in here until final bell."

"That's probably a good call. You know, not a lot of people come here. Could make a good hiding place from the Three Ash-holes or something?" I'd almost forgotten about those guys. As if this day couldn't get any worse. "What's that you got there?"

"Oh, nothing. Just some random junk I found on the floor." Just then Rufus popped out of Ron's pocket. He climbed down Ron's pants leg and climbed up mine, trying to get to the stuff. I attempted to shake him off and keep him from my hands but I just ended up spilling them all and having them land on the floor. Ron immediately eyed the McFistpad.

"Is that the new McFistpad?" Ron asked. He bent over and picked it up, admiring the McFist logo of (what else?) an M with two fists, from behind. "These things are totally indestructible! They cost a small fortune each! You just found this on the floor?" Ron turned the device in his hands to look at the screen. "What the heck?" Ron appeared just as confused by the message as I was. "'Bring them to your cause?' What does that mean? And did this thing just call me a hero?"

"I know, it sounds ridiculous. When I found this thing it told me that I needed to 'find the heroes who'll fix the world' or something. I didn't know what to make of it at first, but I knew it was a joke when it said you were one of them."

"Well, I wouldn't call it that ridiculous. I mean, you know the Ron-man was made for great things, right Max?"

"Ron, when you stare in the face of evil you run with your tail between your legs."

"Well maybe that device thing it mentioned will help. That's what it said, right? That'd be that tube thingy you had, wouldn't it?" Rufus lifted up the neuralyzer over his head to emphasize Ron's point. I pick it up as well as the sunglasses. "Isn't that the Men in Black flashy thing?"

"The neuralyzer. It looks like it and the sunglasses imply that they work the same way. But still, you can't really think that it works, can you?"

"Hey, if it is the flashy thing from Men in Black-"

"The neuralyzer."

"Yeah, that. If it works like that, worst case scenario, I just blank out for a few seconds and we got a real flashy-thing!"

"Neuralyzer."

"Whatever! Just think what we could do with it if it works!"

He does kind of have a point. If this thing really works we can say goodbye to the Three Ash-holes messing with us. A part of me is still convinced that this is a bad idea. But still, I'll always keep wondering if I don't do it. "Alright, let's test it." I just hope Ron will be okay.

"Sweet! Here let me try!"

"Uh-uh! I found it so I use it. Besides, the thing said it was made for me."

"Fine," He reaches into his pocket and hands me Rufus. "You probably better stay out of the flash radius, little buddy." After thinking about it for a second Rufus agreed and dived into my pocket for safe-keeping.

"Alright," I put on the sunglasses, "you ready?"

"Hit me with all you got!" Ron stood with his arms up, ready for the neuralyzer to do its thing.

"Okay," I lift up the neuralyzer, found the button and pressed it. It did as much as you'd expect it to do; a bright flash of light came out and when it was over, Ron had this blank look on his face. "Ron? You okay?"

After a few seconds, Ron shook his head. "Ow. Brain pain."

"Do you remember everything?" Ron looks at me completely confused. "Ron?"

"I'm sorry, dude. But who are you?"


	3. Mission Possible

"Come again?" I asked. I did mishear that, right?

"Uh, I asked who are you," Ron told me with genuine confusion on his voice. "And come to think of it, where am I? And what am I doing here?"

Th-the thing didn't really work, did it? Oh God, I think I might've given him amnesia!

"Okay Ron, listen to me." I grab his shoulders to keep his attention on me. "You're name is Ron Stoppable. My name is Max Force."

"Yeah, I'm not one to talk but that doesn't sound like a name."

I feel the panic building up inside me. I grip his forearms and looked him in the eye. "I've been your best friend for two years! You really don't remember me?"

"Uh, yeah," Ron gently pulled my arms away from him. "Sorry buddy. Not ringing any bells."

Rufus popped out of my pocket and looked up at his owner/best friend. He squeaked in concern, having heard our conversation. Ron noticed him and looked down. "Rufus? What are you doing there? And what exactly are we doing here?"

"Wait, you know Rufus?"

"Yeah, he's my best friend. No offense." Ron stuck out his hand for Rufus to jump on. Ron scratched under his chin and put him back in his pocket.

"So you remember him but not me?"

"Uh-huh."

"And you don't know that we're in North New Norrisville High School?"

"Never heard of it. Wait, did you say 'high school?'"

"Yeah?"

"What am I doing back in High School? I just graduated!"

Okay, now I'm freaked out and confused. "Ron, you're 16; there's no way you'd have graduated by now."

"Uh, dude, I haven't been 16 for two years. That makes me 18. Meaning, I'm not a high school kid anymore."

"Okay, I'm getting a serious headache right now, so how about you just tell me what's the last thing you remember?"

"Let's see, me and my girlfriend Kim saved the world from an alien invasion, then I came to my graduation ceremony on a jetpack, then we celebrated on the beach with all our classmates before getting on Kim's flying car, kissed and drove off into the horizon."

I don't- I just- I have nothing to say to that. I think this is the first time in my life that something made my jaw drop.

"What?" Ron asked me like what he described made sense. "Did you figure out what was going on?"

"Yes! Clearly the neuralyzer replaced your brain with a dream you had once!" I say holding the machine up to his face.

"Hey, is that the-"

"It's the tube-y thing from Men in Black, yes! I flashed you with it and now you're not making sense anymore. Well, you're making less sense than you normally do. So how about we hit you with it again and hopes it turns you back to normal?"

Ron covered his eyes with his arm and started stepping back. "Woahwoahwoah! I'm not letting you fry my brain with that thing. Especially if you already did it once!"

"Ron, I know you're confused. But trust me, I'm your friend and I just want to help you be you again." I put the sunglasses back on and aim the neuralyzer. "Now just put your arm down and hold still and it'll be-" But before I can finish my sentence, the bell in the bathroom went off. The noise startled me and I instinctively turned to look at the bell, just long enough for Ron to run through the door into the corridor. "Oh, for the love of..."

I put the neuralyzer and McFistpad in my pockets and then burst out the door. I look left and right but I can't see any sign of him. The squeaking between my feet however was a pretty clear sign of Rufus. I look down at him pointing to the right. I pick him up in my hands and followed his directions. "Lead the way, little buddy."

I followed his little finger out into the hallway, packed with people going in all directions. I pushed my way through, bumping against and being pushed around by people trapped in bodies too big for their own good, holding on to Rufus to make sure he didn't fell and get trampled. I've made my way through and found who I was looking for talking to the last two people I wanted him talking to.

"Kim, you've gotta listen to me. Everything about this, this school, this town, you hanging with Bonnie; everything about this is just wrong!"

"The only thing wrong is your head," Kim told him.

"So why don't you get out of our faces and go crawl back to that other loser?" Bonnie followed. I rushed up to him and grabbed Ron before he could say anything else.

"Speak of the dweeb," Kim whispered to her friend loud enough to let me hear.

"Sorry, ladies," I said forcing a smile. "He's been spouting off nonsense all day. I think he might've caught something last night."

"Whatever it is, get him out of here fanboy."

"Yeah," Bonnie spat, "we don't want to risk catching 'freakshow'."

I drag Ron away as the two of them laugh at their own joke. "That-that can't be Kim." Ron stutters as I try to save him from any more humiliation. I take him into the student lounge, which was empty this period. "She'd _never_ say stuff like that. And she'd never willingly hang out with _Bonnie_."

"This Kim sounds lovely, you have to introduce me to her, after I turn your brain back to normal." I lift up the neuralyzer, charge the button, but Ron ducked out of the way just before the flash went off. I turn towards him crawling on the floor. But with me guarding the door, there was no way out for him.

"Wait-wait-wait!" Ron pleaded. "Can't we just talk this out?" Rufus jumped out of his pocket and ran to his best friend, placing a comforting little paw over his hand. Ron looked down at his small friend and said, "You believe me, don't you buddy?"

Looking at him now, I can't help but feel a little bad for this "Wrong-Ron". Still though, this was for his own good. The sooner I flash him again, the sooner he'll go back to normal. At least I hope that's what happens. I step right in front of him and crouch down to eye level. "I'm sorry, Ron. But I promise that I'm just trying to help. Now just hold still and everything will make sense again." Ron tried to escape again but he was cornered. He kept moving his head around so I held his chin in place while Rufus got on top of his head and lifted his eyelids. "Alright, time to take your medic-" but before I could finish, the McFistpad began beeping and flashing a green light.

"A-aren't you gonna get that?" Ron asked nervously.

Annoyed, I looked up at Rufus and told him to make sure he doesn't go anywhere before pulling the McFistpad from my back pocket. The screen was now flashing green and beeping loudly. I didn't know what to do so I pressed my finger on it. It seemed to work; the message on top was the same as before but underneath it, there was now a picture of

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me..."

"What is that?"

"This is the tablet that told me to flash you with the neuralyzer in the first place. Said something about how you were going to help save the world or whatever. Now it's telling me to flash someone else."

"Who?"

I turn the pad over so that he'd see the screen, and the picture of Kim Possible's face. "Your quote-unquote 'girlfriend.'"

Ron's eyes lit up. He grabbed the McFistpad from me and jumped up to his feet. "That's it!" Ron shouted.

"If by 'it' you mean a 'sick joke,' I agree."

"No, you see! I can- Look, you don't believe me. I get it. I hardly believe half the stuff I did in high school! But I'm telling you, all of this, this school, Kim hanging with Bonnie, none of this is supposed to happen."

"And yet obviously it did. Would you care to explain how?"

"I was thinking that maybe all of this was a dream or I was trapped in a virtual simulation again."

"Again?"

"But now I get it! I think something changed everything. Something or some_one _made it so that Kim and I were never friends. And I think that this guy has something to do with it." Ron walked up to the wall and pulled down a poster of the Overlord floating past a mountain climber on a steep cliff. The words under the picture read _If you don't like how things are, TOO BAD! The only one who can change it is me._

Seeing the poster makes me seethe, as my mind reels back to the terror and humiliation I felt less than a half-hour ago.

"I kept seeing this guy everywhere out in the hallway! It has to be him!"

I take a breath to calm myself down. "So you think the Overlord just made your girlfriend into a bitch? While that does sound like something he'd do, I'm still subscribed to my 'you've gone nuts' theory."

"His name's really the Overlord?"

"You think a guy with an outfit like that would be subtle?"

"Fair point. And, yes!" Ron showed the McFistpad this time. "And this proves it! When you used that zappy-thing on me, it must've gave me my memories back! All you have to do is zap Kim, and she'll remember everything too! Then you'll believe me and won't try to fry my brain any more!"

I take in what he said. For Ron, this idea makes some sense. If Kim gets zapped and corroborates Ron's story, then there really is something going on. And if it turns out that there is some sort of weird conspiracy involving the Overlord and this helps me knock him off his perch, I'm all for it. And if it doesn't work, well, I can imagine a few worse people I can give brain damage to. Still, I need to take this with a grain of salt and approach this carefully.

"Alright, I'll work with you. I'll try to zap Kim to see if she agrees with what you say. But you're going to have to do exactly as I say. Your schedule is in your backpack. For now, just follow it and act normal then meet me in the cafeteria during lunchtime. I'll explain the next step of the plan by then."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll be hiding in the bathroom. I don't want to talk about why. But it does remind me, if the three dumbest people in our school approach you, RUN! You'll know them when you see them." The bell rang again. "Sounds like you're already late."

"Is that weird for me? The other me, I mean."

"Not really."

"Whew! Glad to see some things don't change." Ron digs into his backpack and pulled out his schedule. "Aw man, I gotta deal with Barkin again?"

"You should probably get going before you really get in trouble."

"Way ahead of you. Come on Rufus!" Rufus hopped back in Ron's pocket and the skinny boy dashed off to his next class.

With everyone in classrooms, I was able to sneak back in to the bathroom undetected. As I sat on the only clean toilet seat, I stared at the McFistpad, wondering just what is up with it? I try turning it off, holding on to the power button for several minutes, but nothing happened; the screen didn't urn black. I put it on the toilet-roll holder and wait for it to go black on its own, but still nothing. I swiped and pressed my finger on it 100 times and it wouldn't even show me the time or how much battery it has left.

What is this thing? Did somebody hack into it in order to make it like this? If so, why? And why hand it off to me?

Of course, as weird as the tablet is, it's nothing compared to the neuralyzer. Though I'm not so sure I should call it that since, according to Ron, rather than removing memories, it replaces them with ones that you've lost, memories of a separate world completely different from this one. Obviously, someone had to have seen the movie "Men in Black" in order to have made this. It even comes with sunglasses! And if they wanted to pass it off to someone else, they'd have to know that they saw that movie too to get a small understanding of how it worked. It's a great film and all, but it's also 20 years old. It might not be that easy to find someone in high school who's familiar with it.

The whole thing sounds asinine, but until we flash Kim with this thing I can't just dismiss it yet. If she agrees with Ron, I'll have to believe it. And Ron did always say that he felt a connection to her, maybe his past memories had been suppressed all this time? Did Kim also feel a connection and had just been ignoring it this whole time? If Ron's old memories did come back, then what happened to my Ron? Is he suppressed in his own mind or is he really gone forever?

I stare at the neuralyzer in my hands. I'm tempted to use it on myself, to see if I'd change, to see if I'd remember something, to see if any of this made sense. But just as I started sinking into this rabbit hole, I'm knocked back into reality by the bell. I check my phone and it's already 5th period.

Lunchtime.

I put the tablet and the neuralyzer back in my pocket and go to the cafeteria. When I arrive there, Ron's waiting for me at the entrance.

"Did you have any trouble?"

"Eh, no biggie. I just showed up late to all my classes."

"That... doesn't really sound like 'no biggie', Ron."

"Well, it's not my fault this place is ginormous and I have no idea where anything is! I also bumped into those guys you warned me about."

"I see you managed to get away unscathed."

"Barely. My mad running away skills seriously tanks in this alternate dimension."

"Yeah, how about we continue this in the lunchroom?"

"Don't need to ask me twice! I can tell by the smell of chimichangas in my backpack that Bueno Nacho still exists here, so that's definitely a plus."

"And here's a minus. When you go in there, look ahead, follow me, and do not, I repeat, do not look at the center table. Got it?"

"Why?"

"Just trust me, okay? We're wasting time as it is. Let's go."

We open the cafeteria doors and step inside. Immediately, we were bombarded by the noise of chatting students and the smell of mystery meat. I led Ron straight to our table where Gwen was waiting for us.

"Hey, guys. You okay?" she greeted us.

Ron and I take our seats. "Yeah, we're...actually, it's kind of a long story. You better brace yourself." I tell her about everything that's happened in the bathroom. Gwen, to her credit, didn't seem to judge us for it.

"Well, you're right. That was a long story. So, how are you going to fix it?"

"You believe us, just like that? You don't think it sounds insane?"

"Honestly, it's not any more insane than a lot of things going on these days. Have you tried flashing him again to see if it turns him back to normal?"

"That's the thing. I think there might be a chance that Ron _is _back to normal. Ron told me how, in this other reality, him and Kim were some kind of world-saving power couple."

"Him and Kim Possible?" This time she sounded judgmental.

"Yes, I know. But then the McFistpad told me to zap her next and Ron started going on about how she'd be able to corroborate his story."

"And you just believe him?"

"I don't know. I mean, I had to have gotten this stuff for a reason, right? And if there is a chance that this is all true, I need to know. That's where you come in. I could just get Kim to come talk to me and Ron in private and zap her when no one's around, but the problem with that is, well, we're losers and Kim wouldn't voluntarily be within ten-feet of us. You, however, are under the radar. So after school, you meet Kim at cheer practice, get her alone and then fry her brain with this." I pull out the neuralyzer and place it in front of her. Gwen looked at it with uncertainty.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, yes, I know she's a brat but I don't want to do anything that might cause permanent damage."

"Look, I know where you're coming from. I've been thinking about it for hours. But whoever left me the pad left a message saying that it would help save the world. And you know as well as anyone that the world could use some saving."

Gwen seemed to mull it over for a second. She then pushed to neuralyzer back towards me. "I'm sorry. I know I just told you that nothing's too hard to believe these days. But I find it _really _hard to believe that someone like that," she gestured over to Kim, who was currently feeling up Dash's bicep, "could be a hero. I mean, even you'd have to think that, right Ron? Ron?" Ron wasn't saying anything. In fact, he had been unusually quiet this entire time. I turned to see him looking over at the central table, watching Kim with actual tears in his eyes. For the most part, Ron always took things in stride. And yeah, he did get upset whenever he'd see Kim and Dash flirting but, I've never seen him this sad before. This was more than just jealousy, Ron really looked like his heart was broken. Gwen apparently noticed the same thing as she let out a sigh and said, "Okay, I'll do it."

"You will?"

"Yes."

"Awesome!" I exclaimed. I hand her the sunglasses as well. "You're also going to need these. Make sure they're on when you use the neuralyzer. We don't want to risk you going crazy too." I turn over to Ron and place my hand on his shoulder. It shocks him out of his stupor and he turns to look at me. "Hey, I can tell that you're in a lot of pain. But I promise that by the end of the day, everything will make sense again." Ron smiled at me and turned towards Gwen.

"Sorry for not introducing myself, the name's Ron."

"I know." Gwen told him. "We've met yesterday."

"We did? Man, what else did I miss?"

Gwen turns to me. "He really doesn't remember anything?"

"Not from this life, anyway. Ron this is Gwen Tennyson, she'll be helping us zap Kim while you and I hide in the men's room."

"Why are we doing that?" Ron asked.

"Remember those three idiots I warned you about? Well, the long and short of it is that those guys are demanding an unreasonable amount of money from us and if we don't give it to them by the end of the school day, they'll beat us up."

"Aw man, I really am back in high school!"

"Which reminds me, Gwen, after you zap Kim, bring her to meet us in the men's room behind the auditorium and knock three times so that we'll know it's you."

"Got it. And I wouldn't worry too much about those guys. I'll make sure they won't give you any trouble today."

"You're gonna use the thing on them?" Ron asked her.

"As much as I'd love to see those three with completely new personalities, I don't want you to be frivolous with this thing." I said.

"I won't," Gwen assured. "I'll just have a couple words with them."

* * *

The final bell had rung. At the gym, Gwen was watching Kim, Bonnie, and the rest of the cheerleaders practice in their red and black uniforms through the sunglasses. As soon as they were done working on their routine, she walked up to Kim and greeted herself.

"Hi, Kim."

"Who are you again?" She asked rudely.

"Gwen Tennyson. We have biology together?"

"Oh yeah! You're that quiet girl that nobody talks to."

"Better not get too close Kim," Bonnie warned. "I saw her hanging out with Stoppable and Force. You don't want to risk getting pulled down with her."

"You're right, Bonnie." Kim turned back to Gwen. "Do you mind taking a few feet back. Just to be safe, of course."

"Sure." As Gwen struggled to maintain her patience, she took a few steps back so that they were about 7 feet apart.

"Thanks," Kim told her.

"Uh-huh. Well, I'm part of the yearbook committee and we just got new state-of-the-art cameras." Gwen pulled out the neuralyzer to show them. "And we wanted to test them out by taking the picture of the most popular person in school."

"Well, why didn't you say so earlier," Bonnie said. "I'd be glad to help you test out your new cameras. Just make sure to get my good side, okay Gwen?"

"I hate to disappoint you, Bonnie," Gwen lied, "but I was actually talking about Kim."

"WHAT?" Bonnie shrieked.

"Oh, so sorry Bon-Bon," Kim said sarcastically, "too bad they didn't ask for the _two_ most popular girls or you would've definitely had a chance." Kim turns towards Gwen. "So, where do you want to take it?"

"I was thinking we could go somewhere private. Maybe, the locker room?"

"Works for me. Later, Bon-Bon."

_Oh goodie, they're awful to each other too. _Gwen thought as she followed Kim. Bonnie let out a frustrated scream as they did.

In the locker room, Kim had just finished her make-up and was now ready to "get her picture taken."

"Be sure to get my good side, okay?" Kim told her.

"Sure," Gwen lifted the neuralyzer but found herself hesitant at the button.

Was this really the right thing to do? If it works, Kim could become an entirely different person and there might be no way to change her back. Did she really have a right to do that to someone, even if it's for a friend? Gwen seriously doubted if she could really do this.

"Hey, what's taking so long?" Kim asked rudely.

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking."

"That reminds me, I had some thoughts of my own."

"Oh really." Gwen responded with a not-insignificant amount of skepticism.

"Yeah. Like how those shades _really _aren't working for you. If you want, me and Bonnie could give you some fashion tips. Who knows, you might be able to make cooler friends instead of having to associate with fanboy and the guy with the rat in his pocket."

...

Nevermind.

"I'll take that into consideration, Kim. But for now, say cheese."

"Cheese!"

The flash went off and Kim's smiling wink was replaced with a blank expression. Gwen took off the sunglasses and stepped closer to take a better look. "Kim?" Nothing. Then Kim shook her head and took note of her surroundings, her cocky attitude from earlier replaced with sheer confusion. "Kim?" Gwen said again. Kim focused on her, too distracted by her situation and said the last thing Gwen was expecting.

"I'm sorry, but do we know each other?" Okay, so it might not have been the last thing Gwen was expecting but the "I'm sorry" was definitely on that was taken aback. She knew what the device would do but it was still jarring to see it for herself.

"You don't remember me?"

Kim tried to recall where she could've seen this girl below but could only draw a blank." I'm afraid not. Is this a locker room? Are we back in school? If so, when did they change the uniform? Black and red is way too villainy for my taste."

So far, Kim was behaving very similarly to Ron after he got flashed. She decided to see if their memories did in fact correlate. "My name is Gwen Tennyson. I'm a friend of Ron Stoppable. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, we've been best friends our whole lives, then after junior prom, we started dating."

_Okay, so that part definitely matches._

"I'm sorry," Kim interrupted, "but I've been answering a lot of questions and I still haven't got any answers of my own. Do you mind telling me what this sitch is?"

"It's a long story, I'm not really sure of the details myself. What I can tell you is that you used to be a cheerleader at North New Norrisville High until I flashed you with this." Gwen lifted the neuralyzer to show to Kim before putting it back in her pocket along with the sunglasses. "Ron and Max will fill you in on the rest."

"Who's Max?"

"That part will also be explained. I'll take you to them. But first, I need to have a chat with the local bullies."

"Bullies, huh? Are we talking the 'take your lunch money and throw you into a locker' kind or 'constantly one-upping you and putting you down' kind?"

"The former."

"In that case, lead the way," Kim cracked her knuckles as she remembered her experience with the former, "and if necessary, leave the 'talking' to me."

* * *

Bash, Cash, and Dash sat on the bleachers and watched the school mascot, the North New Norrisville Overlord, running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Or rather the opposite, as Cash snuck into the locker room and put glue on the mascot head, making it stick to the poor sap in the costume.

"Get it off! Get it off! Someone get this off!"

The three laughed loudly, enjoying the fruits of their labor before Dash told the other two to find Ron and Max. "I gotta finish with practice. You two search the school and make sure those losers pay. One way or another."

"What's the other way?" Bash asked.

"What?"

"One way's paying with money. How do they pay us the other-"

"By hitting them!" Cash interrupted. "They either pay with money or they pay by us hitting them! Were you dropped or something?"

"No, you are!"

"Fellas. Fellas. Take it easy." Dash moderated. "Just remember that we all have one common enemy: nerds. Now go out there and remind those two nerds whose in charge." Bash and Cash left with smirks on their faces, happy to follow Dash's orders. As soon as they were gone, Dash felt someone tap his shoulder and turned to see the head cheerleader to his quarterback, Kim Possible. "Kim? What are you doing here? I thought you still had cheer practice."

"I wanted to see you!" Kim said flirtatiously. "I felt that we needed to have a chat. Somewhere private?" Dash had a good feeling about where this was going and decided that the team could practice without him. He followed Kim to behind the school. As they were walking, Kim made some conversation. "So, I've noticed that you and your friends have made it a hobby to pick on people weaker than you.'

"Yeah?" Dash was confused, this wasn't exactly a secret so he doesn't get why Kim was acting like this was new information.

"I was just wondering if you could, y'know, stop it."

"Come again?"

"Stop. It. Call your friends, tell them to leave the other students alone and _stop_ picking on people. I mean, you're on the football team, aren't you? Don't you already have an outlet for your aggression?"

Dash was silent, processing what he just heard and why Kim would suddenly care about what happened to the geeks around here. A few seconds later he started talking again, "Okay? I'm not really sure where this is coming from but, we're popular. Wailing on the wusses here is, like, our birth right. I mean this is the best years of our lives. Gotta milk it while we can, right?" Kim didn't answer him. They walked in complete silence until they went behind the school, a small corner where no one would see them. Dash was feeling a lot less excited than he used to be. "So... what did you want to talk about?"

Kim turned around, her head lowered; her hair covering her eyes. She walked up to Dash until she was right in front of him and gave him the following warning. "I'm going to ask you one last time. Would you please stop the bullying and leave the 'popularity-challenged' of this school alone?"

Dash was starting to freak out a little. Still, he was the quarterback, the most popular guy in NNN High. He wasn't just going to take this sort of stuff from anyone. Not even his girlfriend. "Oh yeah, and what's gonna happen if I say no?"

"This."

Kim jabbed him square in the stomach, knocking the breath out Dash and making him keel over. She followed this with a knee to the nose, forcing Dash to clutch his own face in pain, blinding him to Kim's next move, grabbing the front of his football uniform and throwing him overhead into a nearby dumpster.

When it was over, Dash pulled himself up. He was leaning over the edge of the dumpster, covered in garbage and having no idea what just happened.

"Oh, by the way," Kim said, glaring at him, "this 'thing' between us? It might not need saying at this point, but we're done."

Dash had about a million questions to ask her. But before he could get out any of them, the dumpster's lid fell down on his head, knocking him out cold and trapping him inside. Kim went off to meet Gwen and the boys right after.

* * *

Ron and I sat in separate stalls, waiting for Gwen and Kim to come. To pass the time, I decided to ask Ron more about his "life." And I have to say, if it is all delusion then it's incredibly detailed. There's virtually no end to the crazy adventures he and Kim apparently had. Ron was just wrapping up the part where he turned into a beaver to fight the creature from the black lagoon when we heard a knock on the door. Three knocks, very loud and a second apart from each of them; it's Gwen!

Ron and I step outside and greet both Gwen and Kim.

"Did it work?" I ask her.

"Kim?" Ron said. "Do you remember me again? I'm not going to have to lose my pants again, am I?"

After that weird statement, Kim smiled and moved over to hug Ron. After a second of surprise, Ron wrapped his arms around her.

"Gwen explained everything," Kim told him. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that."

"It's cool," Ron hugged Kim tighter. "I'm sorry you became BFFs with Bonnie."

"Ugh. Thank goodness I don't remember that. Or flirting with that blonde meathead who tortured you."

"Yeah, that was not fun to watch. But you're back now and that's all that matters. I love you KP."

"I love you too." The two of them closed their eyes and leaned closer together until their lips touched. For the next few seconds, nobody else seemed to exist for them until they finally pulled apart, staring lovingly at each other.

For the first time in my life, my jaw has genuinely dropped. Me and Rufus just stared dumbfounded at the two while Gwen politely turned her head away not to watch. Ron and Kim noticed and the atmosphere they had immediately dissipated. I think they just now remembered that there were other people around them, as they looked at us awkwardly.

"So," Ron started, scratching his head, "I guess this proves I'm not crazy, huh?"

I shook myself out of my stupor, but even then all I could answer was "Y-yeah."

Rufus passed out, falling out of my pocket and onto the floor with a soft groan. I picked him up as Gwen started talking. "So I think we can all agree now that Ron was telling the truth and this whole other world he was talking about really existed."

"But if that's the case, what happened to it? Why did they forget? And did we come from there too and just don't remember it either?"

"No idea."

"Yeah, this is pretty messed up even for us, huh KP?" Ron pointed out.

Kim turned to Gwen. "That neuralyzer thing you hit me with, have you tried it on yourselves?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Gwen told her. "So far, neither of you have recognized us, meaning that we've never met in this world or probably don't even exist. We're also the only ones aware of your "unique" situation and wouldn't be much help to you with our memories replaced."

"Good point. What about the other thing Max found? That tablet?"

"Oh yeah!" I remarked, now remembering the thing in my back pocket. I pulled it out and it still showed the image of Kim's face. I showed it to her. Kim walked over and leaned down to stare at the picture with the thick black words underneath it.

"So weird. I'm sorry, I just realized I haven't introduced myself." Kim stood up and put out her hand. "I'm Kim Possible. I suppose we have met before but, you know."

"Yeah..." I reached out and shook her hand. "Max F- Just call me Max." Suddenly, the pad started beeping again. I was so shocked, I nearly let go of it. I turned down to look at it and the picture changed again. Only this time, I didn't recognize who it was. It was a teenager like me but he had Asian features. He wore a red jacket and shorts and had spiky black hair with green tips. "Hey, do any of you know who this is?" I turned the tablet to them but none of them recognized him. I sighed. "This just keeps getting weirder and weirder."

"Hey!" We all turn to the direction of the shout and saw a short man with gray hair and a tie glaring at us. He walked towards us with his hands on his hips. I hide the McFistpad behind me. "What are you kids still doing here?"

"Who is that?" Ron whispered to my eye.

"Vice Principal Razinski," I whispered back. "Play along." I raised my voice for Razinski to hear. "Nothing sir. We're just four friends hanging out with nothing to do."

"Hmph," Razinski grunted, "well if you four really have 'nothing to do' then may I suggest you 'hang out' outside of school premises?"

"Sure thing sir." I pulled one of my hands from behind to give him a thumbs-up. It then dawned on me that he hadn't realize my hands were behind my back until that moment.

_Idiot._

"What do you got hiding there?" He asked.

"Nothing," I showed him both hands. Rufus was hiding the McFistpad behind me, clinging the waistband of my jeans with his little toes while holding up a screen that was bigger than he was.

Vice Principal Razinski narrowed his eyes, looking at my left hand and then my right, checking that my palms were completely clean. "Hmmm." And just like that he turned around and started walking back where he came from. At that moment Rufus fell down but Kim and Gwen managed to catch him and the McFistpad before they hit the ground. Ron put Rufus in his pocket and Gwen handed the tablet back to me.

"This is too important to talk about at school," Gwen pointed out. "We need to go somewhere else."

"Right," I answered her. "Let's go to the Tennyson's house."

"You mean Gwen's?" Kim asked me.

"Not those Tennysons."A

"He's talking about Uncle Carl and Aunt Sandra," Gwen explained.

"I'm supposed to be there anyway to babysit Mariposa. Hang on, I'll just text them I'm running late and that I'm bringing guests." A couple of seconds later, Mrs. Tennyson texts me back. "All good. Let's get going."

"Uh," Ron interjected, "I seem to be the only one remembering the three jerkfaces waiting to shake us down for $100. What do we do about them?"

"No big," Kim told us. "I showed Dash what to do with that garbage attitude of his."

"What about the other two?" I ask.

"You don't need to worry about them either," Gwen assured. "Let's just go."

Taking their word for it, Me and Gwen led Kim and Ron out of the school and to the Tennysons' house.

* * *

Back behind the school, Dash had just woken up and was lifting the lid so that he could crawl out of the dumpster only for Bash and Cash to suddenly just appear right above him. The two underlings fell and landed on their leader, slamming him back into the garbage with the two right on top of him.

Don't you just love karma?


End file.
